Agrimech September 2015 by rkmedcom

AGRI MECH

(YOUR FARM TECHNOLOGY NAVIGATOR)

RNI No. HARENG00941

VOL I | ISSUE 5 | SEPT 2015

Agricultural mechanization in Peru By Shimon Horovitz / Agronomist

The rice you trust By A S Subbarao

Robot farming system in Japan By Noboru Noguchi - Hokkaido Univ,

Welcome to September edi on of AGRIMECH, the monthly magazine dedicated to forward-lookingfarm equipment from tractors to harvesters, handlers to implements. If it's found on the farm you'll find it in the pages of AGRIMECH. Agriculture machinery is the o en-overlooked economic engine that drives much of our state's and our region's economy, chugging along like a trusty old tractor, bringing in the cash and spinning off the jobs that are the founda on of our prosperity. When one word will do, we use two, and it's not to fill space. Only with in-depth and comprehensive features can we give every machine the a en on, and every reader the detail deserved. That's the only way to inform and engage operators and owners of modern machinery. A er all, we're as commi ed to making sure you've got the right equipment as you are. But don't just take our word for it – every test, report and guide will be packed with expert user reviews and opinions from professional operators who spend their working lives at the wheel of the very latest agricultural machines. An agriculture technology magazine mainly involves genera ng knowledge, its transfer and u liza on by the farmers. For rapid agriculture development, there is a need for constant flow of technological informa on from research system to extension system and there upon to the farmers for adop on. So, in the process of transfer of technology, effec ve communica on has a significant role for agricultural development. Today there is a greater need for communica on of informa on as the present day, “Knowledge explosion” in the world has necessitated a “communica on explosion” in its wake, because “never in the annals of human history was there a need for so many people to know so much and so quickly as it is today”. At the same me, the key role of communica on in any form is to plant new ideas in the minds of human beings. Because, of all the influences to which man is subjected to, the influence of ideas is probably the most important one. Preparing and distribu on of the message to the millions of farmers and machinery manufacturers in the ways that it is received, understood, accepted and applied is therefore, the greatest opportunity and paramount challenge to all extension workers. Hence, the responsibility reposed on extension workers is considerable, as they have to act as teachers to farmers in dissemina on of innova ons or new ideas by using various channels of communica on for adop on. With the best ar cles and photographers AGRIMECH produces a crisp approach to farm publishing; it will be the perfect accomplice for all your machinery needs. If you're into farm mechaniza on business, you should definitely be displayed into AGRIMECH.

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Contents 06

Agricultural Productivity in Transition Economies

Crop Scouting: Precision Technology Uses in Crop Scouting

Agricultural technology to feed the world

Agricultural mechanization: Development of civilization

The Future of Agriculture: Smart Farming

Agricultural mechaniza on in Peru

Agriculture: The Hi: Tech way to farm

Farm of the future

Low input production systems: innovation in mechanization for food security

The Rice You Trust

Vision for Tomorrow Requires Solutions Today

TAFE Launches â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Be a FarmDostâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; initiative to recognize farmers

Farm Equipment Safety: Recognizing and Understanding the Hazards

AGCO & Precision Planting agree to bring Precision Planting Technology to White Planters

48 50

Editorial Committee Dr Gyanendra Singh M.Tech , Ph.D Member Task Force Committee (Agriculture), Government of Madhya Pradesh Member Academic Council, JNKVV, Jabalpur

Dr. Said Elshahat Abdallah Associate Professor Agricultural Process Engineering Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh Univ. Kafr Elsheikh 33516, Egypt

Dr Shimon Horovitz Roberto B.Sc. Agronomy Consultant - Open fields and greenhouses Jerusalem, Israel

DOUGLAS AYIREBIDE ALEKIBA Production Supervisor Mim Cashew and Agricultural Products Ltd., Mim â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Brong Ahafo, Ghana

Dr. Joginder Singh Malik Professor of Extension Education CCS Haryana Agricultural University Hisar-125 004 (Haryana) INDIA

Yash Agrawal Business Development Associate BIS Research

Dr. Ghanshyam T. Patle Assistant Professor College of Agricultural Engineering & Post Harvest Technology Central Agricultural University, Imphal Manipur (INDIA)

A. S. SUBBARAO Sr.Manager - Agronomy SBU - South Agronomy Department NETAFIM, India

Agricultural Productivity in Transition Economies Agricultural output and produc vity have changed drama cally in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) since the fall of the Berlin Wall, exactly 20 years ago. Ini ally, market reforms caused a strong decline in agricultural output. The extent to which this output decline was associated with changes in produc vity depended on the speed with which labor could exit agriculture and agricultural factor and

output markets could develop. These, in turn, depended on the ini al condi ons and implemented reform policies. As the ini al condi ons and reform policies were very diﬀerent across countries in the region, produc vity e vo l ve d ve r y d i ﬀe re nt l y a c ro s s

countries. Changes in Agricultural Output In the ﬁrst years of transi on, gross agricultural output decreased in all countries by at least 20%. The transi on from a centrally planned economy to a market orientated economy coincided in all countries with subsidy cuts and price liberaliza on, which in general caused input prices to increase and output prices to decrease. Purchased inputs were no longer aﬀordable at t h e n e w rela ve prices a n d t h e decrease in input use caused a decrease in agricultural output. In the Bal c states and the European C I S agricultural output decreased to about 50% to 60% of the pre-reform output. In Central Europe and Central Asia, output declined by 25% to 30%. Output stabilized and started to recover in the mid of 1990s in Central

Europe and later in the other r e g i o n s . Currently agricultural output is close to the pre-reform output level in most countries.

Johan F.M. Swinnen

Changes in Agricultural Produc vity Despite a decrease in agricultural output in total, output per worker in Central Europe strongly increased during the past two decades. This increase was driven by the drama c decrease in agricultural employment in the first years of transi on from centrally planned to more marketoriented economies. As output stabilized at the end of the 1990s and agricultural employment con nued to decline, the increase in A L P con nued.PictureIn the Balkan countries the agricultural sector acted as a social buffer and absorbed rural labor in the first years of transi on. ALP decreased ini ally as much labor was absorbed in agriculture. In the late 1990s labor began to flow out from agriculture and this ou low of labor, in combina on with increased investments in the farming and agrifood industry, resulted in a gradual but consistent improvement in ALP.

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Farther East, ALP strongly decreased in the first decade of transi on. On average, ALP decreased by 33% in the European CIS and 30% in Central Asia in the first five years of transi on. The strong decline in ALP was the result of two effects. First, agricultural output declined strongly in both regions and second, the ou low of agricultural labor was limited, and in some regions agricultural employment even increased. From the mid of 1990s, however, the decline in ALP started to slow down and since the beginning of the 2000s ALP has recovered slowly. Everywhere in the region average yields fell during the first years of transi on and recovered later. However, the depth and length of the fall differed strongly among countries. Average yields recovered considerably from the mid of 1990s onwards in countries such as Hungary, na ons with rela vely more large-scale farming and investments in the food industry. In contrast, produc vity recovered more slowly in countries such as Romania, which has a large number of small-scale family farms with difficult access to inputs. Yields declined the most in the European CIS and Central Asia where yields started to increase only from the beginning of the 2000s. Importantly, the recovery of yields in the European CIS and C e n t ra l

Asia was so slow that they only recently reached their pre-reform levels. O f co u rs e , p a r a l p ro d u c v i t y measures might exhibit very different pa erns than would be found using measures of total factor produc vity (T F P), the most comprehensive m e a s u re o f p ro d u c v i t y. Unfortunately, only a few studies have measured total f a c t o r produc vity (TFP), and consequently only limited comparisons can b e m a d e b e t w e e n countries and over me, the ava i l a b l e evidence on TFP is roughly consistent with the evidence from the par al produc vity indicators. In Central Europe, TFP grew slightly in the first years of transi on —0.4% annually between 1989 and 1992 and significantly a erwards: by 2.2% annually between 1992 and 1995 and by 4.4% annually between 1995 and 1998. Studies find a slowdown of TFP growth in the period 1998-2001, probably due to substan al investments in agri

cultural machinery and capital inputs in this period. In the Balkan countries, the TFP evolu on ﬂuctuates much more. TFP decreased strongly, by 4.1% per year, from 1989 to 1992. Later there was a stronger recovery when TFP increased by 7.5% per year in the period 19921995, but it fell again in the late 1990s with bad macro-economic policies resul ng in TFP declines of 1.3% annually from 1995 to 1998. A er 1998 when a series of important reforms were implemented in the region, there was a strong recovery in produc vity: from 1998 to 2001, TFP grew on average by 2.3% per year. Causes of Produc vity Changes The produc vity changes—and the varia ons in them—were caused by a combina on of factors. In this sec on we review a few of the main drivers.PictureFirst, ini al condi ons

affected produc vity in two important ways. On the one hand, they directly influenced the impact of reforms; on the other hand, through ins tu onal and poli cal constraints, they also indirectly influenced the choice of the reform policies. For example, the collec viza on of agriculture and the introduc on of central planning occurred in the 1920s in the FSU, but

emergence and dynamics of the new private farms, but also the preferences for land reforms: in CEECs households wanted their land back, while in a large part of the FSU households had never owned land since feudalism had directly preceded collec vist farming. Another condi on that played an important role was that in Central Europe and the Bal c States, countries were generally richer and agriculture was less important in the overall economy, compared to countries in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, which were much poorer with rela vely more important agricultural sectors. The general economic situa on in a country influenced the extent to which other sectors could absorb surplus labor from agriculture and the development of the social safety net system. Finally, the ou low of surplus agricultural labor was much stronger in Central Europe than in other countries in the 1990s, in part because the social safety net system was much only a er World War I I in C E ECs. Consequently, rural households in Central Europe had much more experience with private farming than their counterparts in most of the FSU. This difference affected not only thebe er developed in Central Europe and the agricultural sector was rela vely

small. Price liberaliza on and the subsequent decline in terms of trade strongly affected agricultural produc vity. The decrease in output prices and the increase in input prices caused a decline in the terms of trade.Ini al condi ons, in par cular resource endowments and use of technology, also affected the rela ve efficiency of farm organiza ons and thus incen ves f o r Price liberalization and f a r

the subsequent decline in terms of trade strongly affected agricultural productivity. The decrease in output prices and the increase in input prices caused a decline in the terms of trade. m restructuring. Resource endowments affect the costs and benefits of shi ing from corporate farms to family farms. If labor/land ra os are high, as in countries with labor-intensive technologies, such as in Transcaucasia and the Balkans, the benefits from be er labor governance by shi ing to family farms from corporate farms are larger, while the losses in scale economies of shi ing to smaller farms are lower. These produc vity inc

en ves resulted in a strong shi to small scale farming. In contrast, in more capital- and land-intensive agricultural systems, such as in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the benefits from shi ing to family farms were lower so that large-scale corporate farming remained more important. In these situa ons, produc vity gains came mostly from laying off corporate farm workers. Second, reform choices and their implementa on also ma ered importantly— and they differed by c o u n t r y. F o r e x a m p l e , p r i c e liberaliza on and the subsequent decline in terms of trade strongly affected agricultural produc vity. The decrease in output prices and the increase in input prices caused a decline in the terms of trade. This contributed to a fall in input use at the start of the reforms, which caused a decrease in the produc vity of land and labor. The implementa on of these reforms differed substan ally between regions. Governments in Central Europe and the Bal c states drama cally reduced agricultural subsidies in the first years of transi on, whereas in some European CIS and countries in Central Asia, reforms were more gradually implemented. PictureA very important element of the reform packages was land reform. There were three types of land reform: res tu on of land to the former owners; the physical distribu on of land to agricultural workers; and the distribu on of cer ficates to agricultural workers. The two first types of land reform, res tu on and the physical distribu on of land, ended up with rela vely strong and well-defined property rights. While it was expected that res tu on of land would lead to a decrease in produc vity because of the fragmenta on of land ownership, in many countries res tu on contributed to a greater consolida on of land use because many of the former owners were not interested in farming themselves

and rented the land to the priva zed coopera ve and corporate farms. In the regions that implemented land reforms by distribu ng cer ficates, property rights were less-clearly defined and, at least in the first decade of the reforms, output and produc vity were nega vely affected as a result. Restric ons were placed on selling and purchasing of land cer ficates, which significantly slowed down structural changes and thus produc vity growth. Second, owners had li le incen ve to put in effort and undertake investments because property rights on specific plots were not clearly defined. At the end of the 1990s the situa on started to improve when land policies were further liberalized, and limited land transac ons became possible.

l Europe and the Bal c states. In the Balkan states, the inﬂow of FDI lagged behind. However, a er substan al reforms were introduced at the end of the 1990s, FDI started to increase there as well. In the European CIS, Transcaucasia and Central Asia, FDI inﬂow has been ver y low, and increased only in more recent years.

Pa erns of Produc vity Change Ini al condi ons, reform policies and investments had a large impact on agricultural produc vity changes throughout the region, but effects varied tremendously among countries and over me. We dis nguish four pa erns. The first group of countries is the most economically advanced countries in Central Europe and F i n a l l y , the Bal cs, such as The restitution of H u n g a r y, t h e C z e c h priva za on of land to former farms and agriRepublic, Slovakia and food companies owners constrained E s t o n i a w h i c h led t o access to land for i m p l e m e n t e d ra d i c a l c o n t r a c n g young farmers, since reforms. These countries p ro b l e m s a n d that land was given were characterized by disrup ons all to older people who rela vely high incomes, a along the agri- started farming to c a p i t a l - i n t e n s i v e food chain. complement their agricultural sector and a Investments by big-bang approach to small pensions. p r i v a t e reforms and priva za on, processors and including res tu on of the reintroduc on of ver cally land to former owners. The loss coordinated supply chains have been from foregone economies of important in overcoming these hold-up scale was limited because the problems and improving output, res tu on of agricultural land to produc vity and quality of agricultural p r e v i o u s o w n e r s l e d t o products. Foreign direct investment consolida on of land in large (FDI) in the agri-food sector played an farming enterprises. In addi on, important role in these developments a massive ou low of agricultural labor through spillover effects on farmers occurred early in transi on, facilitated and local food companies. They have by a well-developed social safety net c o n t r i b u t e d d r a m a c a l l y t o system and radical reforms which produc vity and quality improvements s ta b i l i ze d t h e m a c ro e c o n o m i c and technology transfers. environment. This ou low of labor FDI rose strongly in caused substan al gains in labor Centra produc vity early on in transi on. Later, produc vity gains were reinforced by

spillovers from the large inﬂow of FDI in the agri-food sector. Investments, through ver cally integrated supply chains, improved farmers' access to credit, technology, inputs and output markets. Another pa ern was followed by the poorer CEECs, including Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Poland. These countries were diverse in their ini al farm structure. Before transi on,

Poland already had mainly small, family farms, whereas in Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria the agricultural sector was concentrated in large corporate farms. However, in all of the countries, labor ou low from agriculture was limited in the first years of transi on. In these countries, agriculture served as a social buffer in mes when overall unemployment was high and social benefits were low.

The res tu on of land to former owners constrained access to land for young farmers, since that land was given to older people who started farming to complement their small pensions. Because the agricultural sector in these countries was rela vely capitalintensive, the break-up of the corporate farms into small, family farms caused signiﬁcant losses in economies of scale and yielded only limited gains from the

progress in overall reforms. In these countries, agriculture also provided a buﬀer role and a labor sink. Reforms caused a strong shi from large scale t o w a r d s i n d i v i d u a l farming—especially when land distribu on in kind to households was introduced a er the failure of the share distribu on system became evident. The reforms also caused a substan al inﬂow of labor into

shedding of labor. Ini ally, both output agriculture, and growth in the and produc vity declined. In countries importance of more labor-intensive such as Poland and Lithuania, output sectors, such as hor culture and and produc vity started to recover in livestock. This caused a decrease in the mid-1990s s mulated by FDI. In l a b o r p r o d u c v i t y w h i l e l a n d Romania and Bulgaria output and produc vity grew. Although there has produc vity recovered only slowly, and been substan al growth in yields, at the end of the 1990s they decreased l a b o r p ro d u c v i t y i s s l l n o w again as a result of the financial crisis. substan ally below pre-reform levels From the beginning of the 2000s the in. ou low of inefficient labor and the A fourth pa ern is followed by a group inflow of FDI started a sustained of middle income FSU countries, recovery. including Kazakhstan, Russia and Third, a group of poor Transcaucasia and Ukraine. In these countries, there was Central Asian countries, such as almost no ou low of agricultural labor Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyz Republic and, since output fell substan ally in and Tajikistan, followed yet another t h e 1 9 9 0 s , a g r i c u l t u r a l l a b o r p a e r n . T h e s e c o u n t r i e s a r e produc vity declined strongly. characterized by their poverty and the Reforms were implemented only absence of a good social safety net slowly and so budgets con nued, system, their labor intensive which favored the large-scale farms agricultural systems and and constrained restructuring, with their slower limited efficiency gains. Only a er the Russian crisis in 1998 did the macroeconomic situa on improve

with enhanced compe veness of the domes c agricultural sector through exchange rate devalua ons and the inflow of revenues from increasing oil and mineral prices. This affected in par cular Russia and Kazakhstan. Ukraine implemented a series of important reforms in the late 1990s. Since then, agricultural produc vity has increased in these countries as liquidity in the economy and investments in agriculture increased. Surplus employment started to d e c l i n e g r a d u a l l y. A n important factor in the growth of produc vity in the 2000s was increased investments in the food industry which benefited agriculture through ver cal integra on. It has taken more than 15 years in the European CIS for labor and land produc vity to recover to their pre-reform levels. Prospects for the Future While the recent past has seen posi ve developments, the future remains uncertain. As documented above, produc vity has increased significantly throughout the region in the decade since the Russian crisis in 1998. However, the global financial crisis has hit the CEECs and FSU par cularly hard. Due to a combina on of factors, some of the countries covered here have experienced declines in output and produc vity among the worst in the world. Governments throughout the region have tried to offset reduc ons in private finance and investment by the expansion of public support to agriculture. It is unclear at this point to what extent these more recent setbacks or the offse ng policy s mulus will have a las ng effect on the produc vity developments in the sector, or whether they will only cause a temporary interrup on in a long run path of produc vity growth in agriculture.

Agricultural technology to feed the world Anne Harris

Picture of Anne HarrisFood shortages tend to be a problem for the developing world. Images of famine in Africa or floods in Asia have tugged at the heartstrings and loosened the purse strings of the affluent and influen al with a growing popula on demanding

With a growing population demanding more food, and an agricultural community constrained by lack of land and water while battling demands for greater sustainability, the challenge of feeding the world is falling at the feet of engineers.

e to increase its sustainability. The solu ons are, as always, complicated, mired in economic, poli cal and social wrangling. But one thing is apparent: technology has a key role to play. Engineering is o en overlooked as part of the solu on, but the roles it can play are profound – on the farm and throughout the supply chain.

The UK has recognized the danger and is mobilizing its poli cal will allied with its research and technology ins tu ons. Global Food Security is a m u l a g e n c y more food, and an agricultural p r o g r a m community constrained by lack of land b r i n g i n g and water while ba ling demands for together the greater sustainability, the challenge of r e s e a r c h feeding the world is falling at the feet of interests of engineers.But that scenario is changing the research almost as fast as the global economic c o u n c i l s , landscape. It is no longer a regional e x e c u v e problem but a very real threat facing a g e n c i e s the whole of humanity. To feed the a n d growing global popula on we will need government to produce 60 per cent more food by department the middle of this century. That is a s. To drive challenge that cannot be taken too the program forward it appointed a lightly given the increased compe on global food security champion two for ever scarcer land and water. To years ago. Professor Tim Benton, from compound ma ers, agriculture t h e U n i ve rs i t y o f L e e d s , i s a n i s u n d e r g r e a t interdisciplinary scien st focusing on pressur the rela onship between food produc on and the environment. "The human

popula on is growing, adding 35 per cent more mouths by the middle of the century. At the same me the average person is ge ng richer," he says. Richer people eat more food and more resource-intensive food: beef, for example, converts plant nutrients to muscle at about a quarter the eﬃciency that chickens do. "Richer people ea ng both more and more luxurious food is en rely human and has been a hallmark of our behavior throughout history, but it contributes to a projected demand growth of about 60 per cent by midcentury if current trends con nue,"

Benton adds. Demands on nature The World Wildlife Fund's 2012 'Living Planet' report suggests that "if everyone lived like an average resident of the USA, a total of four Earths would be required to generate humanity's annual demand on nature".

“if everyone lived like an average resident of the USA, a total of four Earths would be required to generate humanity's annual demand on nature".Growing more is not as straigh orward as it has perhaps been in recent decades. Benton points out that there is no more land available, perhaps even less. Then there is increasing compe on for water; by 2050 over 50 per cent of the world's popula on may exist in areas where demand has outstripped supply. "Agricultural produc on currently uses about 70 per cent of the world's available fresh water, and clearly societal and economic use of water (by industry) also exerts a growing demand on a ﬁnite supply," he adds. "Thus, any increase in produc on to meet an increase in demand cannot rely on a propor onal increase in water use in many areas of the world. “Agricultural produc on currently uses about 70 per cent of the world's available fresh water, and clearly societal and economic use of water (by industry) also exerts a growing demand on a ﬁnite supply”.Finally, much of the global produc on growth in recent decades has been underpinned by the use of a broad range of agrochemicals, including synthe c

fer lizers and pes cides. "These can have nega ve environmental impacts and in some areas there is a considerable need to reduce their use for that reason," Benton con nues. "Synthe c nitrogen fer lizer also

"if everyone lived like an average resident of the USA, a total of four Earths would be required to generate humanity's annual demand on nature". requires signiﬁcant energy to manufacture, contribu ng to agriculture's large greenhouse gas footprint [of 20-30 per cent of global emissions]; and again, there is a need to minimize greenhouse gases to prevent extra climate change – which, itself, is likely to act as an increasing constraint on produc on growth.” The recent history of agriculture has been that it has not properly valued the natural capital that underpins a range of important local and planetary func ons, and, indeed, subsidizes agricultural produc on: soil biodiversity helps with soil fer lity and carbon storage, vegeta on and soils ﬁlter and clean water providing access to fresh water; insects pollinate crops, increasing yields, and others may be the natural enemies of pests and so on. "In addi on to

the constraints on produc on growth due to climate, water, land and resource availability, agriculture needs to become more environmentally friendly to ensure its own sustainability," Benton con nues. "This is the no on of 'sustainable intensifica on' which is about growing yields on the exis ng area of agricultural land whilst reducing environmental impacts.” The role of engineering Engineering is important in all aspects of the supply chain: produc on, transport, logis cs, processing , manufacture, storage, packaging, re ta i l , c o n s u m p o n a n d wa ste disposal. "There is scope to use exis ng technologies, based on previous innova on, to great effect by increasing their deployment, such as RFID boluses that can monitor stomach pH and temperature in ca le to op mize welfare and produc on," Benton says. "There is, of course, a huge opportunity to transfer technology and innova on from other sectors into the food supply chain, such as robo cs, or remote sensing, into agriculture. And there is a considerable role for both sustaining and disrup ve innova on to shape the food supply chain, parts of which are under-considered from an engineering perspec ve. This is especially true in agriculture, seen as a 'low-tech' industry without sufficient 'pull' to warrant strong interest from the broader engineering community. "Part of this lack of a en on was due to t h e p e rc e p o n t h a t t h e g r e e n revolu on in the 1960s and 1970s had solved the problem, which has been overturned since the food price spike in

2007/08 and some of the global ramiﬁca ons of this," Benton adds. "Globally, the need for investment in engineering applica ons to agriculture and food has increasingly been recognized.” The complete cycle "Ask the man in the street about agricultural engineering and they immediately think of tractors and ploughs and maybe combine harvesters," "In fact engineering and technology applies to the whole spectrum from the soil and the water, which is the whole basis of crop produc on right through to maintaining the quality of the

products and mee ng the needs of the supermarkets”."Ask the man in the street about agricultural engineering and they immediately think of tractors and ploughs and maybe combine harvesters," Peter Redman of professional body the Ins tu on of Agricultural Engineers explains. "In fact engineering and technology applies to the whole spectrum from the soil and the water, which is the whole basis of crop produc on right through to maintaining the quality of the products and mee ng the needs of the supermarkets. "It deals with everything from growing, har

v e s n g , m a i n t a i n i n g , s t o ra g e , protec on from disease – they all have engineering inputs. Almost without excep on the development of new

“Agricultural production currently uses about 70 per cent of the world's available fresh water, and clearly societal and economic use of water (by industry) also exerts a growing demand on a finite supply”. science in agriculture will need engineering to deliver it. What are bringing it all into focus is the recogni on of global food shortages,

changes in diet, limita on of land, and the scarcity of water."PictureThe UK's response has included the recent publica on of the agri-tech strategy recognizing the importance of agriculture and food as an industrial sector and s mula ng its growth. This is coupled to recogni on also within the higher-educa on community and the funders of research that this area needs more support than in recent decades. "That the I E T is also recognizing the importance of the area, and s mula ng interest from the community is really very welcome – given the huge societal challenge created by food insecurity we need the brightest and most innova ve minds to engage with this area," B e n t o n

concludes. The ﬁrst role for agricultural engineering was the replacement of labor. It replaced the drudgery or made tasks possible that weren't before. "This is a weather-dependent industry and some mes we get a very small window of opportunity so you have to have the capacity to deal with that opening," Redman con nues. "Having established the replacement of labor it now became a ma er of adding precision and intelligence to the processes while also managing this with less environmental damage. "The other area where engineering has played a key role is the reduc on of

waste and pollu on. It has been a gradual process; precision agriculture has not happened overnight.” Lacking in research The fear is that the UK has neglected its agricultural engineering research for so long that it now has to catch up. In days gone by Silsoe Research Ins tute, formerly the Na onal Ins tute of Agricultural Engineering was a worldrenowned organiza on providing innova on, research and technology around the globe. "They don't have an undergraduate teaching ability, so that feedstock of capacity has been seriously undermined," Redman says. "What is needed now is ﬁrstly the recogni on of that deﬁciency and secondly the invita on to the marketplace to play a

high-speed tractor and robo c milker. "If there's an immediate and commercial need for a product the m a r k e t i s prepared to take the risk. Where the market isn't prepared to take the risk is in some of these 'blue-sky' innova ons; that are where there needs to be some input from government and t h e y h a v e part in revitalizing that. I personally am responded with the agri-tech strategy not in favor of crea ng another piece of ini a ve. infrastructure that is speciﬁc to "The theory is that there will be agricultural engineering – it is funding for catapults and issue-based important that engineers work ini a ves. The one thing that funding alongside other technologists." packages requires is that government funding is matched pound for pound "Ask the man in the street about by industry”.

agricultural engineering and they immediately think of tractors and ploughs and maybe combine harvesters," "In fact engineering and technology applies to the whole spectrum from the soil and the water, which is the whole basis of crop production right through to maintaining the quality of the products and meeting the needs of the supermarkets”.

This gap in exper se and engineers suggests that the market has failed in its role, but Redman explains it is simply a ma er of diﬀerent priori es. "The market does its job," Redman argues. "It does it progressively. There are pieces of innova on that have been delivered such as the

Sensing the way "There are many ways that engineering is helping agriculture but there is much more that we can do if we add intelligence such as sensors," Redman says. "The capability of sensing is driving lots of the innova on, but sensing i n t h e biological processes, because agriculture takes place out in the ﬁ e l d . Precision a n d sensing are vital, b u t only if

that is coupled with an understanding of what you need to sense and why. It's not just a ma er of informa on but energy informa on."PictureOne area that is garnering a good deal of interest is computer vision and machine guidance for weed control. "There is a problem with the use of pes cides par cularly if the crop is going to be consumed directly, such as in salad," Redman explains. "What we need to do is control the weeds using the minimum amount of chemicals. So first we need to be able to differen ate between the plant and the weed. If we can do that we can direct a mechanism to take out the weed or spray it with a ny amount of chemical." With the plants iden fied the next task is delivering just the op mum amount of chemical. "We are concerned with aerodynamics, the behavior of crops, the crea on of small amounts of material delivered precisely. The other part of that is again sensing whether the crop is exposed to disease or pest a ack." There is also research required in soil and water management. It is important to avoid compac ng soil as that prevents oxygen ge ng in and water flowing through it. 'Controlled-traffic farming' is being developed, using a set wheel-base and GPS tracking to keep the traffic in one lane and cause less damage to the field as a whole. This

method also looks at reducing the soil load from machines by increasing their surface area. This can be done either by using a track instead of wheels or by making sure that re pressures and loading are appropriate without losing trac on. When it comes to water, quan ty is the key. "You need to have water available to the crop when it is growing," Redman says. "That means that you need water storage. You need to know when the crop is going to make use of that water so it is a ques on of understanding the soil condi on and

how much the crop needs. Then you need to apply just the right amount of water without any waste – precision irriga on. A lot of these technologies have been developed for more arid areas of the world that can be brought back to more temperate regions.” As for the future Redman believes that changes will be incremental. "I think the farm of the future will have some robo c devices; it will be collec ng data across the whole system including the marketplace. It will include informa on about the status of the soil in rela on to weather and disease

forecas ng. All of these data streams will be combined to enable the farm land to be managed more strategically and how to manage it at a day to day basis.” The quest to secure the food supply will be an ongoing process. In previous decades we have been somewhat complacent, assuming that access to food is only a real issue for the poorest in the developing world. However, as we are increasingly recognizing, the me for complacency is over and this is a growing issue for every society.

The Future of Agriculture: Smart Farming Federico Guerrini

The agricultural sector is going to face enormous challenges in order to feed the 9.6 billion people that the FAO predicts are going to inhabit the planet by 2050: food production must increase by 70% by 2050, and this has to be achieved in spite of the limited availability of arable lands, the increasing need for fresh water (agriculture consumes 70 per cent of the world's fresh water supply) and other less predictable factors, such as the impact of climate change, which, according a recent report by the UN could lead, among other things, to changes to seasonal events in the life cycle of plant and animals. One way to address these issues and increase the quality and quantity of agricultural production is using sensing technology to make farms more “intelligent” and more connected thorugh the so-called “precision agriculture” also known as 'smart farming'. It's something that's already happening, as corporations and farm offices collect vast amounts of information from crop yields, soil-mapping, fertilizer applications, weather data, machinery, and animal health. In a subset of smart farming, Precision Livestock Farming (PLF), sensors are used for monitoring and early detection of reproduction events and health disorders in animals. Typical monitored data are the body temperature, the animal activity, tissues resistivity, pulse and the GPS position. SMS alerts can be sent to the breeder based on predefined events, say, if a cow is ready for reproduction. The European Union has sponsored several projects on the topic during the Seventh Framework Program and, now, during Horizon 2020. The currently running EU-PLF project for instance, is designed to look at the feasibility of bringing proven and cost-effective Precision Livestock Farming tools from the lab to the farm. Several private companies are also starting to be active in this field, such as Anemon (Switzerland), eCow (UK), Connected Cow (Medria Technologies and Deutsche Telekom. Smart fishing is at initial stage with some projects in Europe, South Korea, North America and Japan. “Precision agriculture is not new. The agricultural vehicle manufacturers (John Deere, CNH Global, Class and others) have been involved in this segment for some time. Initially, it was about position technologies (GNSS) mainly, but it is becoming more complex moving towards the idea of a connected harvester,” Beeachm Research's principal analyst, Saverio Romeo tells me.”

Agriculture: The Hi-Tech way to farm The big tractor stops on the edge of the plowed ﬁeld while the farmer types ﬁnal instruc ons into the onboard computer. It's a perfect day for plan ng the spring wheat – as the farm's opera ng system had already

A growing world population, the impact of climate change and dwindling resources are among the major challenges now facing the agricultural industry. Along with the development of new crop types, state-of-the-art agricultural machinery offers the best hope for the future. calculated, based on meteorological data, soil samples and grain characteris cs. At last, with a couple of clicks, the farmer enters the speed se ng and launches the sowing program. For the next few hours, he'll leave most of the work to the tractor's onboard systems. Using laser scanners and GPS, the tractor will ﬁnd its way around the ﬁeld almost unassisted. The farmer can concentrate en rely on the sowing process, without having to worry about clutch or gearshi s. PictureWhat once sounded futuris c is rapidly becoming rou ne. “Modern farmers sit in the cockpits of their farm machines and monitor the progress of

fa r m i n g o p e ra o n s f ro m t h e i r onboard computers; they hardly even have to steer,” explains Professor Stefan Bö nger from the Ins tute of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Hohenheim. Liberated from monotonous work in shi s las ng 12-14 hours, farmers can now co n cent rate o n o p miz in g t h e workﬂow. Just like modern cars, the onboard computers in farmers' tractors display important informa on on speed, fuel consump on and the status of the sowing opera on. Onboard computers can also control agricultural implements a ached to the tractor, such as plows or planters. Previously, each piece o f machinery had its own s e t o f controls. Not so long ago, farmers would have to drive over t h e m e a d o w, stop each me the baler ﬁnished pressing or rolling a bale, and unload it by hand before driving on again. Modern balers, on the other hand, can calculate the speed of both tractor and

baler, bring them both to a halt at the right moment and dump the bales on their own – the whole process is automated. “The growing use of hitech farm machinery is enabling farmers to work more eﬃciently and more economically,” says Hermann Beck, head of Z F's Oﬀ-Highway Systems business unit. Smart all-in-one system One important prerequisite for agricultural innova on is the seamless interconnec on of the individual applica ons to form a single smart, streamlined, all-in-one system. Modern agricultural machines have

two diﬀerent interfaces for enabling the individual subsystems to talk to each other. The ﬁrst interface, known as the CAN bus system, is primarily used to control internal systems such as engine and transmission. By contrast, the second system (ISOBUS) works closely with farmers,

enabling them to control, for example, plowing or sowing implements directly from their onboard computers. But smart communica on between systems extends far beyond the farm vehicle itself. Currently, farmers have high hopes for development work in progress on s o - c a l l e d “s l av e sy st e m s ”, whereby the main farm machine acts as the lead vehicle, interac ng with a flock of smaller, (semi-) autonomous, unmanned vehicles. Another major theme p r e o c c u p y i n g a g r i c u l t u ra l visionaries is “precision farming”. Typically, this vision of the future involves agricultural machines that not only know precisely where they are in the field, but also how much seed and fer lizer they need to distribute in each part of the field. Gauging exactly how much fer lizer to apply has always been one of farming's most problema c challenges. Fer lizer in the soil is mobile: it's difficult to tell whether crops are receiving enough nitrates, or whether the nitrogen is making its way straight into

the groundwater. Now researchers at the University of Bremen have come up with a possible solu on. The soil in the ﬁeld is a n a l y ze d u s i n g a s m a l l c h e m i c a l laboratory.

ZF technology in agriculture ZF engineers built the company's ﬁrst tractor transmission back in 1937; today, almost all of the major manufacturers of agricultural machinery rely on Z F's con nuously variable transmissions (CVTs). Over the decades, these systems have made huge strides in terms of sophis ca on and performance.

Nowadays, farm machines producing up to 650 horsepower run smoothly on ZF's heavy-duty CVTs. Just like driver-assist systems, modern powertrain technologies take the strain out of farmers' daily work – and because they maintain a perfect balance between engine speed and gearing, they also reduce fuel consump on. In mes of scarce resources and high oil prices, that's an important cost considera on for farmers. Cu ng costs, reducing workloads and protec ng the environment are by no means the only reasons why the use of hi-tech systems in farms is exploding. “Already, farmers in Germany and France are harves ng four or five mes as much wheat from their fields as farmers in the U.S. or Russia,” says Bö nger. “Using modern systems, we're further increasing produc vity and crop yields,” he adds. This high efficiency is immensely important in interna onal compe on – not least because farmers in Russia and the U.S. have on average 3 to 4 mes and much acreage available to them.

Low input production systems: innovation in mechanization for food security Gajendra Singh - Doon University, India

With growing population food security remains a major challenge in many countries in Asia. As poverty is quite prevalent more than half the malnourished and under nourished people live in Asia. The share of agricultural labor is decreasing and urbanization is increasing. The share of agricultural sector in GDP is decreasing faster than decrease in agricultural labor force. In most countries power availability per hectare is increasing rapidly and this varies from region to region in the same country. The level of mechanization varies from crop to crop within same country. The labor productivity has increased with increased level of mechanization. Main challenges for mechanization include: 1) Small land holdings (average size is only about 1 ha) and majority of the farmers have low investment capacity. 2) The use of sub-standard manufacturing technology producing poor quality products performing poor quality work, giving poor fuel economy and resulting in injuries and fatal accidents. Present low level of mechanization in many countries provides opportunities for growth by improved efficiency of utilization of machines available with farmers through custom hiring to neighbor farmers and or through larger operational holdings. There should be greater regional cooperation in information sharing, collaborative R&D, harmonization of standards, capacity building and trade and investment facilitation. There is a need for favorable government policies and manufacturing processes need improvements to produce quality machines with improved safety standards. There is need to develop and / or adopt low energy consumption machines and practices like no-till drills / planters and conservation agriculture.

Vision for Tomorrow Requires Solutions Today Two weeks ago, I joined my dad, Frank, on a trip to Lancaster County, Pa., where he received a soil health award from a farm associa on and spoke at its annual ﬁeld days event. We added a day to our trip to see three farm equipment dealers in the highly compe ve, and concentrated, area. It was an interes ng trip in numerous ways, including the diverse equipment and number of short lines carried unique territory assignments and varied customer base (Amish farmers next to sophis cated corn growers and animal producers). But it was the drive out to see long me contributor Dave Dum and Don Hoover at Binkley & Hurst (B&H) that proved the most thought-provoking for t h e ﬂ i g h t home.PictureWhen we arrived at the Li tz, Pa. store (B&H has 6 ag loca ons), Dum met us in the parking lot and said Hoover wanted to meet with us before we toured the shop. Usually, these site visits consist of us asking a few ques ons to get a feel for the market before a tour. But at this mee ng, the tables were turned and we were being interviewed on an industry

wide topic that this group of managers had been rolling up its sleeves on. And we spent 90 minutes or so on it. Hoover called his Execu ve Leadership Team together to meet with us along with a few others, including nephew Kur s Eby (a college junior and B&H intern represen ng the student's viewpoint), to talk to us about future talent — a topic that can be easily dismissed when layoﬀs at manufacturers and, to a lesser extent, dealers, con nue to make headlines. Hoover and his team are concerned about where tomorrow's talent (in all job func ons) will be drawn from. They wanted to know how much of a

concern it is for dealers in other states and also what progressive dealers (like our Dealership of the Year Alumni) are doing to contend with it. PictureFewer independent farms today mean fewer farm kids in the talent pool.

And even w h e n re m a i n i n g farm kids do come of wo r k fo rc e age, many have seen enough of t h e i r parents' tailings to Dr Mike Lessiter desire a diﬀerent lifestyle; more in line with their millennial peers. Those workforce preferences (B&H even had an applicant ask for the en re summer oﬀ) are going to be harder for a dealership to sa sfy. Outdated views of the industry and its advancement and earning power contribute to the problem, including unforeseen spots. Hoover recently discovered a community college's report of industry posi ons was ci ng income for a farm equipment tech that was decades old — about 50% of what today's techs are earning. “No wonder some haven't been looking at careers in farm equipment,” he says, no ng the myriad industries, including large companies, compe ng for the very same talent. Cau onary note:

Check and correct the numbers used by instructors in your area. With several acquisi ons since the new management group took over in 2006, Hoover says the company survived on hard-working and capable techs who farm themselves, and who appreciate the scheduling ﬂexibility and freedom B&H aﬀords them to look a er their own farms. But, he knows this model isn't a long-term solu on for the nextlevel support that'll be required. “The technology will move faster than a dealership will be able to keep up.” Asked about the age breakdown on his payroll and when the situa on is going to hit “code-red,” Hoover answered in the past tense. “It was about 2012,” he

on a board of trustees of the Foundry create and protect prac cal, job-ready Educa onal Founda on (FEF), an curriculums. And while scholarships certainly don't ensure career choices, a Is it time for our industry to signiﬁcant number of today's organize around this issue and contributors had earned scholarships get serious — with an industry and learned about the industry through wide effort — about securing the organiza on. the next generation workforce? Is it me for our industry to organize Let's get some dialog going on around this issue and get serious — what our industry can and with an industry wide eﬀort — about ought to do today, to be securing the next genera on prepared for the needs of workforce? Let's get some dialog going tomorrow. on what our industry can and ought to do today, to be prepared for the needs organiza on created to address the of tomorrow.Companies with vision same issues we're talking about here end up crea ng their own problems to and to proac vely work to get a shot solve, and B&H is “on it.” Not only are at a rac ng talent to a compara vely they brainstorming out-of-the-box smaller industry segment compe ng

says. “A lot of people have about 10 years le .” With a talent vacuum just years away, perhaps our recrui ng pitches should talk about the amount of gray hair in the industry. While it'll be hard to compete with big business on wages, re rements will bring quick advancement opportunity to those willing to grab it. In our previous careers, Execu ve Editor Dave Kanicki and I served at separate mes

with higher proﬁles and sexier industries. The FEF began with a small campaign of pledges from companies in 1947 to a ract technical manpower to the foundry industry, and grew into a fully supported, North American associa on (in an industry with fewer enterprises than the dealer industry). Not only does it present scholarships to students at 19 colleges and universi es at a unique na onal event each year that exposes the top industry execu ves to students and faculty, but it also provides support for the instructors that helps

ideas, but also how to collaborate with the very dealers they compete with for both sales and talent. The three compe ng dealer groups in the area met on the issue, and agree a unified effort has merit. “We've got to find a be er path,” says Hoover. “It's a crisis and it isn't going to get any be er.” Is it me for our industry to organize around this issue and get serious — with an industry wide effort — about securing the next genera on workforce? Let's get some dialog going on what our industry can and ought to do today, to be prepared for the needs of tomorrow.

Farm Equipment Safety: Recognizing and Understanding the Hazards

Machinery such as tractors and power tools, pose the greatest injury risk on the farm. Na on-wide in 1990 there were 1,300 deaths and 120,000 disabling injuries in the profession of agriculture. Of these deaths and injuries, 46% of the injuries and 64% of the deaths were tractor and machinery related (1,3,6). It is important to be safety conscious when dealing with any job that requires the use of machinery. Sta s cs show that the majority of machinery related accidents occur as the result of human negligence. Errors include taking shortcuts to save me, failure to read the operators manual, ignoring a warning, improper or lack of instruc on and failure to follow safety rules. The most commonly u lized pieces of equipment around the farm are tractors, trucks, wagons, mowers, spreaders, grinders, blowers, augers, post hole diggers, shredders, balers, rakes, combines, and all-terrain vehicles ( AT Vs). No ma er how diﬀerent they are in structure, they all, if used improperly or carelessly, can be fatal. 50% of total farm fatali es involve and 14% are machinery related. A breakdown of the machinery

related fatali es are as followed; 34% corn pickers, 11% silage handling, 11% hay baling, 11% manure handling, and 3 3 % o t h e r m i s c e l l a n e o u s fa r m machinery. Safety sta s cs show that the majority of farm-related injuries occur between 10 a.m. and noon, with the period between 3 and 5 p.m. second highest4. It has been established that these me periods are when fa gue is most likely to occur, and concentra on is not as sharp. It is a good prac ce to take periodic breaks to lessen f a g u e . Climbing down oﬀ the tractor and walking around for a couple of minutes will help relieve stress and boredom. Children have the highest rate of machiner y-related injuries and fatali es. Workers over the age of 65 do not have an excessive number of injuries, but the likelihood of an injury being fatal is the greatest. Between 1985 and 1989, 50% of total f a r m

fatali es involved children under the age of 14 and workers over the age of 65. In over of the age of 65 groups, twothirds of the fatali es were tractor related. The majority of child deaths resulted being extra passengers on machinery and being run-over. The most common injuries in children involving equipment include: corn or grain augers, tractors, ATVs, power take-oﬀs, belt or chain a achments,

hay balers, and pitch-forks. Because of the seriousness of machinery-related accidents, many injuries result in permanent disabili es; such as the loss of an arm, leg, ﬁngers, toes, or a decreased range of mo on. More than three-quarters require surgery or an bio c treatment for bacterial infec on or both.

into the building should be high e n o u g h t o f a c i l i t a t e equipment p a s s i n g underneath.  Electrical systems in machine sheds s h o u l d b e sufficient for the Machinery and Equipment Storage power tools and Buildings equipment that will require the use There are numerous precau ons that of electric current. should be observed when storing  Electric outlets should be of the machinery on the farm. Precau ons three-prong grounded type. include:  Machinery storage buildings should  Buildings where machinery and not be used to store debris. power tools are stored should be  Doors on machine sheds should be located far enough away from wide enough for machinery to safely structures that house livestock and pass through without being caught. hay in case of fire.  Fuel storage tanks should preferably be located below ground, and a minimum of 40 feet from the nearest structure. Fuel cannot be stored in the same structure as machinery or power tools. Tanks should be properly vented. If above ground, the area around the tank should be free of li er, weeds and any Doors also need to pull or slide open fuel spills that could aid in star ng or and close freely in case of an accelera ng the spread of a fire. emergency. Fuel tanks should be adequately protected from being struck by  Exits should be clearly marked. machinery. An approved 10 B:C fire  Doors should be lockable to keep out children and unwanted visitors. ex nguisher should be located near  Floor surfaces should be level and all fuel pumps and tanks. smooth, free of bumps and  ∙ Electrical lines protruding rocks. coming  Equipment should be parked so there is enough space for a person to

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walk completely around it. Buildings should have adequate ven la on for the star ng or running of an engine within the structure. (Note - engines should not be le running inside a building for a prolonged period of me unless exhaust is properly being vented externally). All tools and accessory equipment should be kept picked up and stored in their proper place, e.g., air hoses, oil cans, spare res, jacks. Keys should always be removed from all equipment or machinery to prevent children or unauthorized people from star ng them. Do not allow non-employees inside the machine shed. Children should never be allowed to play around or inside the machine shed or on farm machinery itself. It is important to be able to recognize poten al hazardous areas on machinery. These areas include: pinch points, shear points, cu ng points, crush points, w ra p p i n t s , a n d springs.

Pinch Point is an area where two rota ng surfaces meet such as feed rollers, gears or a belt running around a pulley. Extremi es can be caught in pinch points directly, or be drawn in by loose ﬁ ng clothing that has become entangled in the rota ng parts.  Shear Point is an area where the e d ge s o f t wo s u r fa c e s co m e together in a manner so as to cut a so er material placed between the surfaces. Shear points are found on shrubbery shears or grain augers. The resul ng injury is usually amputa on. 

Cu ng Point is found on machinery designed to cut such as mowers and harvesters. The blades move with a rapid mo on o en unseen by the eye. Injuries are of the same nature as those caused by a shear point.  Crush Point occurs when two objects are joined; either with both ends moving towards each other or with one being sta onary. Fingers and hands are o en injured by crushing between a draw bar and wagon hitch. Numerous fatali es occur when people helping the operator or the operator

him/herself is crushed between pieces of equipment or equipment and a solid object such as a wall or tree.

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Springs are found on numerous pieces of farm machinery. When a spring is compressed, 'energy' is 'stored' within the spring. When the spring is expanded, the energy is released. The larger the spring the greater the amount of energy produced. When springs break they explode with great force and can i n ﬂ i c t s e r i o u s d a m a ge . I t i s

important to inspect springs regularly for cracks and wear.  Wrap Point is any moving point on a piece of equipment where clothing or long hair may become entangled such as a Power Take Oﬀ (PTO) sha . A wrap point grabs the vic m and actually wraps him/her around the moving part or it can also draw the vic m into the machine. Tangled clothing can wrap ght enough to crush, amputate or suﬀocate the vic m. All wrap points on machinery should be shielded if possible.

Sustainable Development The world is in transition to one in which there will be more people, greater consumption of materials and resources, more global interdependence, and a need to reduce poverty without destroying the environment. Over the past two decades, “sustainability” has become a principal concept in integrating technological, economic, social, and political issues to address environmental protection and economic development. The future depends on harnessing the power of modern technologies, consistent with the interests of the poor and hungry and with respect for the environment. Agriculture, as a source for food, natural raw materials for bio industries, and energy, will increasingly be a major driver of this transition. “Definitions” abound for sustainable development. I prefer to think of it as a “process” of redirection, reorientation, and reallocation—an evolving process rather than a static definition. I see sustainable development as a fundamental redesign of technological, economic, and sociological processes to address change. To get beyond the various images of sustainable development, there is a need to develop a “science” of sustainability and systems of implementation. This leads me to suggest that the process of transition to a sustainable world will include: Streamlining processes and reusing materials with a goal of zero waste. Embracing new technologies of information science, biotechnology (genomics and integrative molecular biology), and advanced materials to reduce environmental problems while increasing economic productivity. Utilizing renewable resources for energy to reduce or eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. Developing sustainable communities based on the efficient use of space, increased conservation of materials and energy resources, and reduced transportation. Improving community livability and developing more efficient administrative and planning processes to demonstrate ecological living that is economically and socially desirable. Developing sustainable agriculture as a principal component of sustainable communities where use of fossil fuels, insecticides, herbicides and inorganic fertilizer is minimized or eliminated. Focusing on newer and innovative sustainable enterprises such as bio-based industrial products. The challenge is to rethink how the material needs of society can be met by using agriculturally based systems. This rethinking involves an integration of science and engineering with an emphasis on ecological processes and socioeconomic phenomena. Technologies such as biotechnologies, information systems, and control and management systems will play a key role in inventing new processes and ensuring their effective and efficient execution (at the highest possible quality and lowest cost). Norman R. Scott Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering Cornell University

Crop Scouting: Precision Technology Uses in Crop Scouting

Crop Scouting: Precision Technology Uses in Crop Scouting Crop scou ng, also known as field scou ng, is the very basic ac on of traveling through a crop field while making frequent stops for observa ons. Crop scou ng is done so that a farmer can see how different areas of his or her field are growing. If there are problems during the growing season, the farmer can work to mi gate them so those problems do not affect yield at harvest me. Should problems go unno ced or uncared for during the growing season, they can poten ally limit the total yield, thus reducing the revenue from the sale of the crop or other inten ons for the crop, such as livestock feed. There are many different methods of crop scou ng. While the tradi onal methods can include walking through the field and observing plants manually, par cular pieces of equipment are s ll used, including field notes so the farmer can keep account of plants and areas that need more a en on, a pocket knife and bags for sample taking, and finally a hand magnifica on lens so the farmer can get a close look and be er idea of the health of his

or her plants. Crop and field scou ng are crucial for each stage of the crop lifespan. Preseeding field scou ng can show a farmer weed popula ons, including what weeds are growing and what growth stage the weeds are in. When it's me to seed, field scou ng can show the farmer informa on to lead

them to choose what seed depth or seed rate they should plant at, as well as early indicators of seed treatments or selec on. A er the seeding is completed, frequent scou ng will help to show farmers damaged seeds, early signs of pests, and many other factors. When crops begin to germinate and become established and rooted, con nued scou ng can help

to prevent weed damage, pest damage, and post-spray pes cide or fer lizer performance. It is important to keep scou ng on regular intervals through the plant's life, as this scou ng could reveal pest issues, soil moisture issues, and a variety of other risk that could be fought against. Crop Scou ng tells farmers a huge amount about their plants, and can help them to improve yield, and maximize crop efficiency. As precision agriculture technologies have advanced, farmers have been helped greatly when it comes to crop scou ng. For example, instead of field notebooks, there are several different mobile apps that are compa ble with different types of mobile devices, including tablet computers and smartphones that help farmers keep accurate logs of their fields, while also giving them the opportunity to cross compare these notes with previous years or different areas of the fields. Also with the advancement of Global Po s i o n i n g Syste m s ( G P S ) a n d Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), farmers don't even need to walk through their fields. These new technologies can help to show farmers informa on that humans cannot see with the naked eye, as well as accurately pin-point where target

photo of their farm target areas of issue are, as well as helping farmers to make future decisions based on past crop issues they have had.

areas are to provide assistance. GPS Use in Crop Scou ng Global posi oning systems are an extremely useful tool when it comes to the advancement of crop scou ng in precision agriculture. Crop scou ng has always relied on farmers remembering where they have scouted and taking note of that, although with the use of GPS, farmers now have an accurate recording of up to one foot of where they have been. With this precise loca on data they can make notes and have specific loca ons of where pests, poor soil temperature or moisture are located. With the preciseness of global posi oning systems farmers can also accurately mi gate threats that they find in their fields. GPS has now been incorporated into many different pieces of technology which help farmers to scout their fields much more efficiently and accurately. An example of these technologies includes different apps that are available for tablets or smartphones. These apps help farmers to not only mark their exact loca on in a field, but also make field notes, compare notes from previous years and more. These apps can help to show a farmer where exactly on an aerial

UAV in Crop Scou ng UAV's are one piece of technology that have been developed and perfected for agricultural purposes in the past 10 years. UAV's also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, are constantly being perfected and developed to be more efficient, easy to use, and effec ve. Two main models of UAV's used in agriculture are the fixed wing pla orm, which is very similar to a plane, although it is scaled down and controlled with a remote control or

GPS. The second model is the mul copter - this model is similar to a helicopter although it generally has more propellers - some mul -copters h ave a ny w h e re b e t w e e n 4 – 8 propellers. The more propellers that are added to a mul -copter typically provide more stability and power to the machine, this makes it easier to ﬂy and m a n e u ve r i n d i ﬀe re nt we at h e r c o n d i o n s . Ty p i c a l l y mul -

copters are preferred on smaller farms where landing space is limited, while planes are usually be er suited for extremely large farms. UAV's have assisted the agricultural sector by combining their technology with that of infrared cameras. These two pieces of technology combined mean that a farmer can get a bird's eye view of his or her farm and see their crops from a whole new perspec ve. UAV's are also capable to use these infrared cameras to render a variety of different informa on, including: what species are in their fields (weed and crop scou ng), moisture levels of the soil or plants, plant development stages, plant health, and much more. These UAV's give farmers a more holis c view of what is happening in their fields and with the use of these UAV's, farmers are able to be er understand their crops not just on a field by field basis, but on a plant by

plant basis. This is because some UAV's are carry cameras capable of showing one pixel as one foot of land, this means that the farmer can see each foot of land on their ﬁeld and understand a wide range of informa on about that par cular piece of ﬁeld. UAV's are helping farmers to undertake more accurate farming prac ces and with this precision comes be er yield.

Agricultural mechanization: Development of civilization

The long journey of human civiliza on began 10.000 years ago when humans, un l then hunter-gatherers, thanks to the advent of agriculture had access to a food surplus that led to the forma on of permanent human se lements. From then un l three centuries ago the development of human society was

based on technical development of tools and facili es dedicated to primary economic sector and therefore it can be said that the “agricultural engineering” - in its earliest and simplest forms - was the ﬁrst o f

technological innova on so it may be considered the mother of all future innova ons. A second major step took place in Middle Age with signiﬁcant improvements in the agricultural techniques and technologies. The development of handcra s and

processing of iron improved the produc on of agricultural implements such plough and hand tools as well as animal trac on techniques with horse shoes and harnesses. Then with the advent of the Age of Enlightenment in 1700 which extends the applica on of the analy cal

“The development of handcrafts and processing of iron improved the production of agricultural implements such plough and hand tools as well as animal traction techniques with horse shoes and harnesses”. method and mark the beginning of modern science, agriculture undergoes a major transforma on of both the farming system and the technical means that from “tools” evolve into “machines” in the modern sense. Thus began the drama c development of mechaniza on of the last three centuries that led to increase by more than a thousand mes the produc vity o f h u m a n l a b o r t h u s re d u c i n g employees in agriculture to 12% of ac ve popula on in more industrialized countries. Nowadays agricultural mechaniza on is facing two major challenges: from one side to produce food supplies for a growing popula on that is expected to rise to 10 billion in a few decades and on the other hand protect and preserve the environment. An addi onal global strategic role of mechaniza on is its key role in the improvement of economic condi ons of the less developed countries: a low level in agricultural engineering in generally associate to a high level of

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poverty while agricultural mechaniza on can reduce the number of people working in agriculture and increase the GDP of the country. The excep onal development of agricultural machinery industry of the last decades is based on a growing globaliza on and on a worldwide networking and coopera on in order to reduce the produc on costs and to increase the quality. Driving forces of modern farm machinery are automa on and electronics with enormous progress in

diffusion of IT technologies that have o en been discussed in the Club of led to tremendous improvement in Bologna. T h e co nt r i b u o n o f mechaniza on to the g o a l o f fe e d i n g t h e planet in the near future must also focused on the development of simple and cheap machines for developing countries in order to improve efficiency of the agricultural systems, reduce malnutri on and improve the economic both efficiency and produc vity of m a c h i n e r y a n d e n v i r o n m e n t a l condi ons of those countries. protec on during opera ons as has

Robot farming system in Japan Noboru Noguchi - Hokkaido University, Japan

Agriculture in developed countries after the Industrial Revolution has tended to favor increases in energy input through the use of larger tractors and increased chemical and fertilizer application. Although this agricultural technology has negative societal and environmental implications, it has supported food for rapidly increasing human population. In western countries, “sustainable agriculture” was developed to reduce the environmental impact of production agriculture. At the same time, the global agricultural workforce continues to shrink; each worker is responsible for greater areas of land. Simply continuing the current trend toward larger and heavier equipment is not the solution. A new mode of thought, a new agricultural technology is required for the future. Intelligent robotic tractors are one potential solution. In Japan, the number of farmers is decreasing and aside from the fact the problem in aging farmers. In the near future, Japan farmers will decrease rapidly that will result to shortage in food production. That is why researchers in Japan are doing a research about robot farming system which is one of the possible solutions to solve the food shortage production. This presentation will give the application of robot vehicles in agriculture using new technologies. The robot framing system will fully automate the farming from planting to harvesting until to the end user of the products. A robot tractor and a planting robot will be used to plant and seed the crops using navigation sensors. It includes a robot management system, a real-time monitoring system, a navigation system, and a safety system. In the robot farming system, the robot vehicles receive a command from the control center and send information data through a wireless LAN or packet communication. The robot vehicles such as a robot tractor and a robot combine harvester can perform its designated tasks and can work simultaneously with each other. The operator at the control center can analyze the data sent by the robot vehicles in a real-time basis and can immediately send the necessary information to the farmers, retailers, and producer's cooperation, etc. Also, the operator can see the real-time status of the robot vehicles using a GIS while their performing its task.

Agricultural mechanization in Peru By Shimon Horovitz / Agronomist

An experience to make your soil preparation in a short and in an efficient way: I am an Israeli Agronomist and spent a year in Peru and wish to elaborate here the idea I implemented there. It is an idea I know from Israel but I did try to show it in in Peru in 2006 and 2007 where I was a consultant to a company selling seeds of Israeli Co on to farmers and later helping them with loans and advice. Small holders: The farmers in Peru are small holder farmers. They have a 2 ha Farm usually. I met few farmers with 10 or 20 ha farm, Very Few farms had 50 ha and more than that. I saw 3 farms of 500 ha in the north of Peru. Soil: Soil is a saline soil as it is a desert area, pH is usually above 7.8. Water: The irriga on is mainly by flood, the water comes from a reservoir, when the lever of the reservoir is down then water for the fields are stopped un l lever of the reservoir is back to a minimum. That is leaving the farmers some mes without water for 30 days. Lack of machinery: The small farmer can hire machinery from a government office at the edge of the town

they live nearby. The machinery is that the sub simple containing some disc plows disc soiler did. harrows and soil levelers. This way you have the soil so exactly History: Part of the problem of the machinery u n d e r t h e started a er in 1968, when Peru took place of the (na onalized) the big farms from the plants in the owners and gave 2 ha to every man in future. You do not need to sub soil all the field, (and Peru. not under the tractor’s wheel place). You want the soil to be so and easy to Costs of the machinery: When I asked about their ability to Use enter by the roots only where they are, a Sub-soiler or a rooter they said “it is too costly ”! Later they told me the cost is high for one me and they usually do it 2 mes, (once across the other) T h e m t h e y men on there is an extra obstacle show two implements in Peru first on the left is the leveler and in the back the here; as the soil is Picture Disc Harrow. A tractor can pull these two at one go to the field on roads. so it consumes more water then which is under the top of the ridge. what they can afford, as the water is counted per season. I made some more research speaking to Background: I arrived to the idea that if I wish to help them I need to have a “sub-soiler that can ridge at the same me, in this way you make the ridges exactly on top of the path

farmers and Agronomists to understand be er: As farmers tend to save on soil prepara on, most of the farmers do not prepare the soil in the best way, most of them irrigate before the soil prepara on as the soil is hard and very dry a er the former crop, the soil

prepara on rou ne contain : It is a known rou ne to do: irrigate before all ac vi es. a) Plough b) Disc Harrow c) Leveling As a “three passes basic rou ne”. But I guess some of the farmers do only part of this list: a) Part of them will use a plough. b) They all use a “Disc Harrow” in their fields. c) Some or most of them will use a soil leveler, as most of them use flood irriga on and it is recommended. Farmers of Co on today were rice growers yesterday. Irriga ng the field is in a method which is known for rice, in flooding method. With high borders so water will remain inside the irrigated field. They do their prac ce in a short me as not to lose too much of the humidity for the seeds to germinate, subsequence - they will make a ditch in the soil so the seeds will find some humidity. In the south of Peru I saw this done by planter: some mes the ditch is made by animal. The fields I saw (most of them) were not planted nice and the crop was not evenly germinated, such a field can’t be sustainable. The poor performance is part of lack of knowhow and bad prac ces. If you use be er prac ces you can reach a be er start: In contrast here is a field I managed the soil prepara on; you may see that the crop looks good and homorganic. Here we made ridges and irrigated them and later we disked harrowed the field one me and use planter that placed the seeds on the flat soil but exactly where the center of the ridge used to be so the soil is very humid. Explana on: The ridge gets

r the tractor’s wheel is “dead” (kind of). As an example of the idea – in the picture we see two tractors working one behind the other, the first one is carrying a subIrrigation was with flood methods that make the crop suffer some days from over watering and sometime too long intervals. The picture shows a field being irrigated by spoiler and the second flood irrigation. is carrying a ridger, but this is with 2 tractors, while my idea was to put 2 implements together on one tractor on one frame. To use the idea to the maximum I made an Part of the people make a furrow like seen in the picture with a mule or a horse and implement: later put the seeds by people into the furrow where it is a bit more humid. The implement I dry but the center of the ridge, further into promoted in Peru is coming to do the job in it is s ll humid, so the idea of the ridge is to one path, use sub soiler and use ridges and help us keep part of the ridge wet for use “fixed tracks”. longer me and s ll be higher and further Here in the picture is the implement I made from the “hard-pan”. and promoted between the farmers I met. The next picture show an implement which The base of my idea is “Make ridges was “downsized” so a smaller tractor can before irriga on”. do the job. The tractor is making ridges in a field one next to the other. Only a er comple on I will irrigate this field. I add a drawing here to show the idea once more: The bed should be a bit higher from the rest of the area, so water can go to the low area and leave the plant to aerate its roots and get more air. You can leave the bed in the same place next your or next season, this is the main idea of “fixed-tracks”. The second commandment I say is use “fixed tracks”. Meaning try keep the crop on the same track all the years. Keep the place that the tractor compacted to be again the path where the tractor will go again. The place where the tractor compacted once is not fer le as the other area where it was not compacted. The soil that was alive one year will remain alive next year. The soil unde

I am adding here few more diagrams in order to make myself clearer of the idea: The way I show is to plant on the ridge and not in the furrow. When soil had become dry and no rain will come then we cut and throw the dry soil from the top to the furrow, then we see the center humid soil of the center of the ridge and plant there. ( it may become a ﬂat ﬁeld now but the seeds are placed in a humid zone.)

no assurance when the farmer will get his next irriga on. As some me the interval between 2 irriga ons may reach to 25 of more days which is a bit too much so the plants will shade the flowers and buds, and the yield will be low. Downsizing: The implement we made started the Here in the picture is the implement I made and The next picture show an implement which was promoted between the farmers I met. “downsized” so a smaller tractor can do the job. job with a 240 hp tractor but soon later the tractor had to go to other jobs. In order to adopt the implement to a smaller tractor, we down sized the nes so a 115 hp tractor will be able to do the job. me we Looking from the back at the “subsoiller – ridger “ implement Looking from the other side at the smaller “subsoiller–ridger implement” There was a used the idea on 2 You can see the borders of the fields is a will not develop nicely as they can’t tractors going exactly one a er the ridge of soil to border the water not to grow deep as the hard pan will not let other, go to another field in the flood roots go deep. When roots are shallow The first tractor went ahead with a subirriga on. the ability of the co on plants (or soiler and the second one came right The seeds are placed low and too close others) will suffer when water is too behide in its footprint and made the to the “hard pan”. This means the roots much as water are put a lot as there is ridges.

Farm of the future Giuseppe Gavioli – CNH

The evolution of the farms in the next 30 years will be impressive. There are several external drivers that will have a very strong influence on the farm of the future such as: the increase of food demand for growing world population and for growing individual food consumption, the need to increase productivity and efficiency of production on current crop land and to cultivate new land, the availability of new technologies for farm tools, the pervasive presence of information and data. The farming activities will also have to be increasingly sustainable for the environment. Farmers will interact more and more with global crop and food markets, which will increasingly drive farm medium to long term strategy, while they will be strengthening links and connections with local farm communities and groups, leveraging on local and regional networks for energy production and sharing, logistic optimization, information and services.

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Qk;ns % Gobind Rotavator is better than other agricultural equipments to prepare the soil in just  one xksfcUn d`f"k ;a=ksa or two times ofjksVksosVj cultivation, and also vU; it save the 40% diesel and 60%dh time. rqyuk  Traditional takesgh minimum 10-15esa days to prepare dks seed bed where asds by esa ,dmethod ;k nks tqrkbZ t+ehu cksus Gobind Rotavator soil is immediately available for sowing. fy, rS;kj dj nsrk gSA ftlls yxHkx 40ø Mhty dh cpr  Gobind Rotavator can immediately prepare the soil moisture of previous crop does not govkSj waste, thus helpsle; water management. 60ø dh cpr gksrh gSA  Cultivation of soil can be done immediately after the rain because it is the ideal use for  Rotavator, ikjEifjd rjhdksa ls [ksr dks cqvkbZ ds fy, rS;kj it also push the tractor forward in soil. djusRotavator esa yxHkx lsland 15of fnu le; yxrk gSjute, ijUrq  Gobind is beneficial10 for the reapeddk sugarcane, bananas, dried grass and other corps. xksfcUn jksVksosVj ls [ksr cqvkbZ ds fy, rqjUr SALIENT FEATURES: rS;kj gks tkrk gSA  Gear Box: Heavy duty export quality gear box, and it have longer service life.  Box xksfcUn feV~Vh cqvkbZ  Frame: It havejksVksosVj heavy duty square pipe and made updks from heavy plates. ds fy,  Trailing Board: It havedj automatic in to have cultivation of rqjUr rS;kj nsrk spring gS]which ftllshelps fiNyh Qlya quality dh feV~Vh soil, and its pressure balance the wet soil . dh ueh csdkj ugha tkrh] bl izdkj ty izcU/ku esa  P.T.O. Shaft:- Water proof cross with protection guard. enn Hkh djrk  It have double spring multigSA lip oil seal.  Blades : Blades;a=ksa made up from advanced imported partscjlkr which easily cultivateds the  Tiller vU; d`f"k dh rqyuk esa gksus soil without heavy load and also helps in smooth running. ckn rqjUrSide blls tk steel ldrk gSAheatxhyh  Side Transmission: gearstqrkbZ made out of fd;k best quality & properly treated technology whichesa gives the regular functioning with longer life. feV~Vh tqrkbZ bldk vkn'kZ mi;ksx gS] lkFk 

rduhdh fo'ks"krk,a % TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION GI GI -- 120 120

Tractor Power Power Tractor Overall Width Width Overall

GI GI -- 150 150

GI GI -- 175 175

GI GI -- 200 200

GI GI -- 225 225

30 to to 35 35 H.P. H.P. 35 35 to to 45 45 H.P. H.P. 45 45 to to 55 55 H.P. H.P. 55 55 to to 70 70 H.P. H.P. 70 70 to to 75 75 H.P. H.P. 30 150 cm cm 180 cm cm 205 cm cm 230 cm cm 255 cm cm 150 180 205 230 255

Tillage Tillage Width Width Gear Box Box Speed Speed Gear

120 150 175 200 120 cm cm 150 cm cm 175 cm cm 200 cm cm Single/Multi Single/Multi Single/Multi Single/Multi Single/Multi Single/Multi Single/Multi Single/Multi Gear Gear Gear Gear Side Transmission Side Transmission Gear Gear Gear Gear P.T.O. 540/1000 540/1000 540/1000 P.T.O. Speed Speed (RPM) (RPM) 540/1000 540/1000 540/1000 540/1000 540/1000 Rotor Speed Speed (RPM) (RPM) 220 220 220 220 Rotor 220 220 220 220 No. of of Blades Blades 36 42 48 54 No. 36 42 48 54

225 225 cm cm Multi Multi Gear Gear 540/1000 540/1000 220 220

60 60 Shear Gear Gear Box Box Shear Bolt Bolt Shear Shear Bolt Bolt Shear Shear Bolt Bolt Shear Shear Bolt Bolt Shear Shear Bolt Bolt Overload Protection Overload Protection The content of this catalogue is only giving information to the end user without engagement from our side. The content of this catalogue is only giving information to the end user without engagement from our side. The The Company Company can can modify modify the the specifications specifications of of the the total total machine machine & & its its components components without without notice. notice.

Rotor Speed (RPM) for Multi Speed Gearbox Rotor Speed (RPM) for Multi Speed Gearbox 1000 (RPM) Tractor PTO 540 (RPM) 1000 (RPM)

Tractor PTO 540 (RPM)

15 20 1516020

16 19 16 18019

17 18 17 20018

18 17 18 22517

19 16 19 25216

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180

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( A Unit of Gobind Alloys Limited )

( A Unit of Gobind Alloys Limited ) An ISO 9001:2008 Company An +91-7705900901, ISO 9001 : 2008 Company 903, 904, 906, 923 9415049542, Haidergarh 941504862, 9415049543 Dasharabagh, Road, Barabanki (U.P.)

GOBIND

info@gobindindustries.co.in info@gobindindustries.co.in

gobindindustries.co.in gobindindustries.co.in

Lalit Sachedva +91 9643040547 sachdeva.lalit2015@gmail.com

NEWS M&M to acquire 33% stake in Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Company for Rs 159.24 crore MUMBAI: Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Thursday signed a definitive agreement to acquire 33 per cent in Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery Co (MAM) for $25 million or Rs 160 crore. The world's largest tractor maker by volumes will gain a significant voting stake in the subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries through fresh issue of common shares and Class A (nonvoting) shares of Mitsubishi Agri Machinery. The deal is to be closed by October 1, with funds infused by Mahindra going into expanding the capital base of the Japanese company. The acquisition will help the Mahindras work closely to devise an appropriate product portfolio strategy for the overseas markets. Apart from penetrating deeper into the US market, this tie-up will help M&M reach out more effectively to markets of China, South East Asia and eastern Europe. It will also provide a platform for both to leverage technology and product development synergies. Both part

ners will work towards common Goenka said the company needs s o u r c i n g t o b r i n g d o w n to get a better balance in terms of its volumes spread, with 90 expenditure. per cent of its business coming The Mahindras have an old from India. Acquisition of stake association with Mitsubishi will help it increase its presence Agricultural Machinery. The in overseas markets. latter has been supplying tractors to M&M's US subsidiary, Goenka also pointed out that despite being the largest selling tractor company in the world; M&M was at number 5 in terms of revenues. A push on farm machinery business globally is the key to climb up the revenue ladder. in addition to sharing technical license for walk-behind rice "Tractors only make up for one trans-planters and a tractor. third of global farm machinery " F r o m a b u y e r - s e l l e r business while implements and relationship, we now have a machineries like rice-planters deeper bond with MAM. It will make for a big business. In case help in leveraging our future in of Mahindra, almost 95 per cent markets like the US," Pawan of business comes from selling Goenka, executive director of tractors. With this tie-up with Mitsubishi, we would like correct M&M, told ET. that position by focusing more on M i t s u b i s h i A g r i c u l t u r a l farm mechanization," he said. Machinery had revenues of $408 million in 2014-15 and with Mahindra is also likely to launch M&M's equity infusion; it will a lighter tractor in India with the mostly be debt free. MAM makes help of Mitsubishi next year, losses at the net level, but a which will help the company higher capacity utilization of cater to a 20,000 units per the plant will help the company annum market for orchards. make it proﬁtable. The Japanese ﬁrm has a roster base of 1,700 employees.

NEWS Tractor and Farm Equipment Ltd launches 'Be a FarmDost' initiative to recognize farmers COIMBATORE: To give school students a true experience of what an average farmer has to go through daily, Tractor and Farm Equipment Ltd today launched its 'Be a FarmDost' initiative here, providing them with kits containing seeds and other material like an institutional manual.

Through this initiative, the company wanted to reach 20,000 school children in Coimbatore by distributing FarmDost kits, which contain

The initiative was aimed to celebrate the farmer and bring back the farming community into the social consciousness and to encourage students to understand the importance of farmers, Sunitha Subramanyam, Senior Deputy General Manager, Corporate Communications, said at the launch at National Model Higher School, here.

seeds, a packet of cocopeat, a friendship agreement, a f a r m d o s t s t i c k e r, a n institutional manual, besides letters to them and their parents, requesting child's involvement in this, she said.

regularly and post it on FarmDost website, Sunitha said. The pictures will later be promoted as Be a #FarmDost Page-Facebook. Com/foremost and the top three students from each city will be awarded Best #FarmDost student award, she said. After covering the initiative in Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichu, it would be held in Chennai schools, somewhere in mid of August and awarding ceremony will be held during September.

Another award 'Thank You Farmers Student' award will Once students participate by encourage students to meet, cultivating seeds from the interact and thank farmers in an kit,they are expected to click innovative way, Sunitha said. pictures of the farming process

NEWS New Holland Agriculture Wins “National Agricultural Machinery Consumer Satisfying Brand” Award in China The New Holland BC5000 small square baler was rewarded at the 7th edition of the “National Agricultural Machinery Consumer Satisfying Brand” Award. This is the second consecutive time that the high quality of New Holland's products is recognized with this important national award bestowed by the Farm Machinery magazine. Farm Machinery was founded in 1958 and is one of the first a g r i c u l t u r a l machinery journals in China, with the largest circulation in the agriculture business. The m a g a z i n e i s supervised by the China Machinery Industry Federation (CMIF) and has a wide-ranging influence in the agricultural machinery field, also among the users.

b a l e r, a m a c h i n e t h a t revolutionized hay and straw harvesting, putting New Holland on the map as the haymaking specialist. Today, New Holland's small square baler is not only a well-known product worldwide, but also a “best seller” in the Chinese market. There have

been more New Holland small square balers sold than any other brands. With more than 700,000 balers sold until today, New Holland has been recognized as the leader in balers with a well-earned r e p u t a t i o n f o r q u a l i t y, New Holland is the hay tools reliability and engineering l e a d e r excellence. For generations, New Holland has set the gold standard for Reliable and hard-working, h a y m a k i n g . I n f a c t , i t s now even more productive reputation for innovation and Contractors and operators who quality began with the custom bale, are big fans of New small square Holland square balers. In fact, New Holland bales are the only choice for hand

feeding because they quickly separate into ﬂakes. Professionals put their trust in BC5000 model balers because they make consistently dense, well-shaped bales that are easy to handle. In the latest generation of balers New Holland has introduced f u r t h e r improvements to the BC5000 Series to make them more convenient and even more durable. New improvements include reinforced tension rail anchor support, convex slide block for longer wear and improved p l u n g e r performance, and haydog spring mount reinforcement for improved durability. Adding more convenience also improves productivity. That is why the BC5000 model balers have been conceived with a ﬂipup shield over the main gearbox, a redesigned knotter gear drive, an easier access to the plunger bearing and cam for inspection and adjustment, new hydraulic hose storage slots in the power pivot shield, together with new optional halogen work lights and a roading light kit.

NEWS SuperSweep™ pickup saves v a l u a b l e c r o p All BC5000 balers feature the wide SuperSweep pickup to get every bit of the crop. Wider pickups and attention to every detail — down to the curve of the tines — make the diﬀerence in productivity at the front end of these machines. BC5000 balers equipped with SuperSweep pick up extra crop that conventional pickups miss. With the BC5000, users can bale about 8,000-

10,000 bundles of hay every 20 hours, which means higher productivity and higher performance eﬃciency. BC5000 balers have been widely appreciated by the Chinese market not only for the variety of tools and the wider adaptability, but also for the level of service provided by New Holland's dealer network, which supports its customers at every step with the equipment, after-sales service, parts supply,

and other services they require. New Holland full liner and leading h a y a n d f o ra g e e q u i p m e n t m a n u f a c t u r e r New Holland oﬀers a full line of agricultural machinery and is a leading manufacturer of hay and forage equipment in China with a wide oﬀering that includes round and large balers, windrowers, bale wagons, mower conditioners, rakes and self-propelled forage harvesters.

AGCO and Precision Planting Agree to Bring Precision Planting Technology to White Planters AGCO Corp. (NYSE:AGCO), announced its latest investment and development in planting. AGCO entered into an agreement with Precision Planting, an aﬃliate and business of The Climate Corp. that introduces factory integration of s e l e c t Pr e c i s i o n P l a n t i n g technology to AGCO's White Planters line. New options will soon be available to give customers improved performance and the ability to utilize new and emerging technologies. Continuing with AGCO's Fuse Technologies approach to open architecture, the agreement also enables farmers to integrate their on-farm data into The Climate Corp.'s digital agriculture platform. This data connection enhances farmers' ability to seamlessly and easily collect data in one place and gain personalized insights through digital tools to help them make more informed decisions about

their operations. "We work closely with growers, designers and partners to develop what farmers want and need in a planter," says John Menssen, marketing manager for seeding and tillage at AGCO. "The addition of

Precision Planting technology will give farmers new options in today's planting environment." AGCO will be announcing new options and models of its White Planters line in the coming months that will include technologies made available from Precision Planting. "Our White Planters line is known for achieving great planting accuracy," asserts Menssen. "Our focus is to continue to achieve that high level of accuracy while giving farmers expanded access to the

latest in top-performing technologies, practices and products." "Through this agreement, we're pleased to provide farmers with two ways to improve operations," said Mike Stern, president and chief operating oﬃcer at The Climate Corp. "We're making it easy for farmers to access the latest Precision Planting technology on AGCO planters to enhance planting performance, and we're enabling them to seamlessly integrate onfarm data into their Climate accounts to help them make more informed decisions about their operations." "This development between AGCO and Precision Planting is one element of AGCO's global strategy to bring innovative and open solutions to AGCO customers and dealers," according to Eric Hansotia, AGCO's senior vice president of Global Crop Cycle, Advanced Technology Solutions and Dealer Tech Support.