History of ag mechanization

Biographical info: Age? Gender? Education? Career? Relation to you?

How have the physical demands of agriculture changed during your life?

Do you miss any of the physical work of the past?

What types of physically demanding work do you miss the least?

Did you get paid for agricultural labor as a child? If not, what motivated you to

do it?

Do you view the reductions in physical labor in agriculture during your lifetime

as all positive? Do you think there are any negative trade-offs?

Do you think participation in agricultural labor has impacted your health or

character? Please explain.

Is there anything else that you would like to share about physical labor in ag?

Physical labor interview Qs

43 sets of Physical Labor interview responses have been submitted

Allison H Responded on:2013-09-03

Andrew F Responded on:2013-09-04

Andrew H Responded on:2013-09-02

Andrew W Responded on:2013-09-03

Cheyenne S Responded on:2013-08-31

Chris C Responded on:2013-09-02

Clinton E Responded on:2013-09-02

Cody L Responded on:2013-09-03

Craig W Responded on:2013-09-04

Cristopher T Responded on:2013-09-03

Devan B Responded on:2013-09-04

Dillon P Responded on:2013-09-04

Elijah H Responded on:2013-09-03

Eric L Responded on:2013-09-02

Ethan B Responded on:2013-09-01

Evan P Responded on:2013-09-03

Gloria L Responded on:2013-09-04

Jacob P Responded on:2013-09-03

Jeffrey M Responded on:2013-09-04

Jessica M Responded on:2013-09-04

John C Responded on:2013-09-04

John H Responded on:2013-09-03

Joseph C Responded on:2013-09-04

Joseph M Responded on:2013-09-03

Joshua B Responded on:2013-09-03

Justin F Responded on:2013-09-03

Karisa J Responded on:2013-09-02

Kelly A Responded on:2013-08-29

Kelly J Responded on:2013-09-03

Kelsey H Responded on:2013-08-30

Kyle W Responded on:2013-09-03

Molly M Responded on:2013-09-04

Morgan W Responded on:2013-09-04

Olivia F Responded on:2013-09-04

Roger T Responded on:2013-09-03

Samantha S Responded on:2013-08-29

Sarah G Responded on:2013-09-03

Sean M Responded on:2013-09-03

Sean M Responded on:2013-09-03

Steven R Responded on:2013-09-01

Taylor J Responded on:2013-09-03

Tyler Z Responded on:2013-09-04

Zane H Responded on:2013-09-01

TALK to me if you have NOT submitted!!!

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Questions for Mechanization of ag interview (Due before start of class on 9/11)

Biographical info: age, years farming, scale of main enterprises, HP of largest tractor

What development(s) in farm equipment during your career have had the biggest

impact on your life? Please explain.

How do you weigh in on the value of new equipment? How valuable is it to regularly trade-up

vs. run older well maintained equipment?

How much of the repair and servicing of your equipment do you do yourself? How has this

changed over time?

What are the main ways that you learn about new developments in farm equipment?

How many gallons of diesel fuel are required to produce an acre of corn on your farm? How

has this changed during your career?

Do you think equipment will just keep getting larger or do you expect smaller fully or mostly

automated equipment will become important?

Is there anything else that you would like to share about the mechanization of agriculture?

1 submission as of noon today

Agriculture prior to the

mechanical revolution

• Wooden plows, all

sowing by hand,

cultivation by hoe (but mostly no weed control)

• Hay and grain cutting

with a sickle, and

threshing with a flail

The Sower by Vincent Van Gogh

An Allegory of Summer by Abel Grimmer, early 1600s

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dave-hill/2598654520/

A recent threshing party in Mongolia

European farming practices in the

1600s were not that different from

the practices used in ancient Egypt

thousands of years earlier

Jethro Tull, 1731

Jethro Tull, a British agricultural pioneer (1674-1741)

invented the grain drill and other complementary row crop

implements that resulted in large increases in

agricultural output and productivity.

Agricultural productivity

is the relationship between

agricultural inputs and outputs,

a measure of the efficiency of

production.

What is productivity?

Yield ≠ Productivity

Primary Methods for Productivity Enhancement

in Agriculture

http://www.nae.edu/File.aspx?id=52553

• 1790s Scythe and cradle introduced

• 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin and championed manufacturing using interchangeable parts

• 1794 Thomas Jefferson designed an improved grain drill and moldboard plow

• 1797 Charles Newbold patented first cast-iron plow

Cotton Gin

Scythe w/ cradle

What does a cotton gin do?

What is the purpose of the cradle?

A 15-man haying crew in Pennsylvania ready to start work in the fields (~ 1900).

http://www.farmcollector.com/Equipment/When-the-Scythe-was-the-Cutting-Edge.aspx#ixzz2621ExmZw

http://www.sjsapush.com/resources/slaves-in-field.jpg

The cotton gin made large-scale production

of cotton possible in the US South

10,500 bales produced in 1793 4.5 million produced in 1861

major expansion of slavery in southern US

cheap cotton industrialization of textile production

• 1834 first McCormick

reaper patented

• 1847 McCormick moved

to Chicago and began

manufacturing reapers

-- > International Harvester Later model reaper

What does a reaper do?

Why is Cyrus McCormick often called the

Father of Modern Agriculture?

McCormick’s reaper triggered a major

expansion of commercial agriculture in

the US.

Farmers needed cash to purchase

factory-made reapers and other

agricultural machinery and thus had to

increase their sale of farm products.

subsistence farming → commercial farming

• 1837 John Deere

invented the self-

scouring steel plow

greatly accelerating the

breaking of prairie

John Deere

(1804-1886) What is meant by “self-scouring”?

After a strained 5 yr partnership that ended in 1848, Deere

moved to Moline, IL, because the city was a transportation

hub on the Mississippi River. In 1855, Deere's new factory

manufactured more than 10,000 plows.

In 1838, John Deere sold his first steel plow to a local farmer

who quickly spread word of his success with the plow. By

1841, Deere was manufacturing 75-100 plows per year.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ndfahtml/ngp_farm_threshing.html

The first practical threshing machine

was also invented in 1837

Feeding bundles into the

threshing machine

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/ndfahtml/ngp_farm_threshing.html

Why did many farm wives not

enjoy threshing time?

- too many mouths to feed

- too many unsavory characters on their farms

Have you been to an Old Threshers Reunion?

• 1841 Improved grain drill

patented.

• 1842 First grain elevator,

Buffalo, NY

• 1844 Sickle bar mowing

machine patented

• 1847 Irrigation begun in

Utah

• 1854 Self-governing

windmill patented.

• 1856 2-horse straddle-

row cultivator patented.

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http://images.quickblogcast.com/8/1/6/4/4/210599-244618/WWTRAILhorses.jpg?a=60

• 1865-75 Gang plows and

sulky plows came into

common use along with

spring-tooth harrows for

seed bed preparation.

• 1868 Steam tractors first

taken to the field.

• 1870s Silos came into use.

• 1870s Deep-well drilling first

widely used.

• 1874 Glidden barbed wire

patented.

Barbed wire allowed fencing

of rangeland, ending the era

of unrestricted open-range

grazing.

First upright silo built in 1873 Hatch farm, McHenry Cty, IL

http://www.moore-warner.com/barns2009/001.jpg

Acclaimed director George

Stevens' legendary tale of the

end of the open range earned

six Academy Award

nominations and was my

dad’s favorite film.

The story brings Shane, a

drifter and retired gunfighter,

to the assistance of a

homestead family terrorized

by a wealthy cattleman and

his hired guns.

Have any of you seen

this classic film?

• 1880 William Deering

sold 3,000 twine

binders.

• Late 1880s

Horse-drawn combine

first used on wheat

farms in the PNW.

A binder

http://www.corbisimages.com/images/Corbis-IH170859.jpg?size=67&uid=61af598f-c2a7-4eac-a38b-4416b4deeae4

Bonanza farming in the Red River Valley

The Bonanza farms of the Red River Valley were very large-

scale wheat farms that developed as a result of a monetary

panic in 1873. As shares of the Northern Pacific Railway

plummeted, investors were given the option of trading their

bonds for railroad owned land in the Dakota Territory.

Hundreds of investors traded their railroad bonds for hundreds

of thousands of acres of virgin prairie in the northern part of

Dakota and hired professional managers to run their farming

operations. Techniques recently introduced in American

factories were applied to these farms in an attempt to make

each farm extremely efficient through the use of large-scale

machinery and cheap migrant labor.

After ~ 20 years of profitable bonanza farming, low wheat

prices, degraded soils and high land prices drove the investors

to sell off the Bonanza farms.

Farm boys from IL and other parts of the Midwest, who spent time

working on Bonanza farms, returned home to their families’

small diversified homesteads and began building larger farms

with mechanization, hired labor and borrowed capital.

1902 First U.S. factory for tractors with internal

combustion engines

Charles Hart and Charles Parr established the first U.S.

factory devoted to manufacturing a traction engine powered

by an internal combustion engine. Smaller and lighter than

its steam-driven predecessors, it ran all day on one tank of

fuel. Hart and Parr are credited with coining the term

"tractor" for the traction engine.

1904 First crawler tractor with tracks rather

than wheels

Benjamin Holt, a California manufacturer of agricultural

equipment, developed the first successful crawler tractor,

equipped with a pair of tracks rather than wheels. Dubbed

the "caterpillar" tread, the tracks helped keep heavy tractors

from sinking in soft soil and were the inspiration for the first

military tanks. The 1904 version was powered by steam; a

gasoline engine was incorporated in 1906. The Caterpillar

Tractor Company was formed in 1925, in a merger of the

Holt Manufacturing Company and its rival, the C. L. Best Gas

Traction Company.

Fordson Tractor

Henry Ford & Son

Corporation—a spinoff of

the Ford Motor Company—

began production of the

Fordson tractor. Originally

called the "automobile

plow" and designed to

work 10- to 12-acre fields,

it cost as little as $395 and

soon accounted for ~ 75%

of US and 50% of global

tractor sales.

1917 Tractors become affordable

In 1918, Deere and Company bought Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company. This

company had already established its own tractor model called the Waterloo Boy.

Suddenly Deere and Company was in the tractor race. Deere’s first tractor, the Dain

All-Wheel-Drive had 4 cylinders and 3 wheels - 2 in front and 1 in the rear. Only 100

were ever produced because it was too expensive - $1500!!

Key ignition

Gear-driven water pump

On-the-go shifting

Shiftless speed changing

4 cylinder

24 belt HP

4600 lbs

State of the art

Only 1 exists today!

1921 First major aerial dusting of crops

U.S. Army pilots and Ohio entomologists

conducted the first major aerial dusting of crops,

spraying arsenate of lead over 6 acres of catalpa

trees in Troy to control the sphinx caterpillar.

1922 International Harvester introduces the PTO

International Harvester introduces the PTO, a device that

allowed rotary power from the tractor’s engine to be

transmitted to attached harvesting equipment. This innovation

was part of the company’s signature Farmall tractor in 1924.

The Farmall featured a tricycle design with a high-clearance

rear axle and closely spaced front wheels.

1931 Caterpillar manufactures a crawler

tractor with a diesel engine

Caterpillar manufactured a crawler tractor with a diesel

engine, which offered more power, reliability, and fuel

efficiency than those using low-octane gasoline. Four

years later International Harvester introduced a diesel

engine for wheeled tractors.

http://www.caterpillar.com/cda/layout?m=393446&x=7&id=3108507

1932 - First tractor with rubber wheels

An Allis-Chalmers Model U tractor belonging to Albert

Schroeder of Waukesha, Wisconsin, was outfitted with a pair

of Firestone 48X12 airplane tires in place of lugged steel

wheels. Tests by the University of Nebraska Tractor Test

Laboratory found that rubber wheels resulted in a 25 percent

improvement in fuel economy. Rubber wheels also allowed

smoother, faster driving with less wear and tear on tractor

parts and the driver.

Market Share of Leading Wheel Tractor

Manufacturers by Decade

1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950-55 Overall

John Deere 4.0% 6.4% 21.7% 17.0% 14.5% 14.5%

International Harvester 21.4% 28.6% 44.3% 32.7% 30.6% 32.5%

Ford 20.1% 44.2% 0.0% 7.9% 19.3% 16.7%

Massey-Ferguson 2.9% 1.9% 2.9% 14.7% 10.8% 9.1%

Case 7.2% 3.6% 7.4% 7.6% 5.1% 6.2%

Allis Chalmers 6.2% 3.5% 12.6% 9.7% 10.3% 9.1%

Oliver 2.1% 2.2% 5.0% 4.8% 5.4% 4.4%

Minneapolis Moline 8.0% 0.7% 2.9% 3.2% 3.6% 3.1%

All Others 28.0% 9.0% 3.2% 2.5% 0.2% 4.4%

Who is on top today?

US and global leader in farm equipment sales

http://www.nae.edu/File.aspx?id=52553

Tractor production at IH's Farmall Works in Rock Island, IL ceased in May

1985. Production of the new Case IH tractors moved to the J.I. Case Tractor

Works in Racine, Wisconsin. Production of IH Axial-Flow combines

continued at the combine factory in East Moline, IL.

The combination of a 6 month strike starting in Nov 79, a sluggish economy and

internal corporate problems placed IH in a hole that left little way out. Things

only got worse until 1984, when the bitter end came. International Harvester,

following long negotiations, agreed to sell its agricultural products division to

Tenneco, Inc. on November 26, 1984. Tenneco had a subsidiary, J.I. Case, that

manufactured tractors, but lacked the full line of farm implements that IH

produced (combines, cotton pickers, tillage equipment…)

So…what happened to IH?

1932 First pickup baler manufactured

The Ann Arbor Machine Company of Shelbyville, IIlinois,

manufactured the first pickup baler, based on a 1929 design by Raymond McDonald. Six years later. Edwin Nolt developed and

marketed a self-tying pickup baler. The baler, attached to a tractor, picked up cut hay in the field, shaped it into a 16-18-inch

bale, and knotted the twine that held the bale secure.

1933 3 point hitch developed

A few years later, Ferguson’s company merged with

Canadian company Massey-Harris to form Massey-Ferguson.

The David Brown Company in

England was the first to build

tractors with a 3 pt hitch, but

Ferguson also demonstrated

the system to Henry Ford in the

United States. With a

handshake agreement, Ford

manufactured Ferguson’s

tractor and implements from

1939 to 1948.

Irish mechanic Harry Ferguson developed an innovative

hydraulic draft control system - the 3 point hitch which raised

and lowered attached implements and set their depth.

1935 Rural Electrification Administration begins

bringing electricity to farms

President Roosevelt issued an executive order to create the

Rural Electrification Administration (REA), which formed

cooperatives that brought electricity to millions of rural Americans.

Within 6 years, the REA had aided the formation of 800 rural

electric cooperatives with 350,000 miles of power lines.

Electricity on the farm brought about dramatic change in the barn

(motors to run ventilation fans, pumps, conveyors, arc welders,

shop tools, lighting) and in the home (lights, radios, fans,

refrigerators, washing machines)

Rural and urban standards of living moved closer.

opened its doors in 1937

1938 First self-propelled combine

The Massey-Harris MH-20 was one of the most significant

developments in harvesting history. The MH-20 introduced

the term “Combine harvester” and was the first serious

rival to tractor or horse drawn harvesting. There had been

earlier attempts to develop self-propelled harvesters but

none were commercial successes.

Over 900 MH-20s were

sold during its first 2

years on the market but

the smaller MH-21

introduced in 1941 was

much more popular.

Annual sales peaked at

>10,000 in 1949.

1943 First commercially viable mechanical

spindle cotton picker

International Harvester built

"Old Red," the first commercially

viable mechanical spindle cotton

picker, invented and tested by

Texans John and Mack Rust

beginning in 1927.

The spindle picker featured

moistened rotating spindles that

grabbed cotton fibers from open

bolls while leaving the plant

intact. The cotton fibers are then

blown into waiting hoppers, free

of debris.

Have any of you read this book?

Denver worked as a share cropper

picking cotton by hand into the 1960s

About half

of the global

cotton crop is

still picked by

hand

Kyrgyzstan

Hand picked cotton

is normally picked

multiple times

improving the

quality of the

cotton

1948 Center pivot irrigation invented

Colorado farmer Frank Zybach invented the center

pivot irrigation machine, which revolutionized

irrigation technology. The system consists of

sprinklers attached to arms that radiate from a water-

filled hub out to motorized wheeled towers in the

field. Zybach was awarded a patent in 1952 for the

"Self-Propelled Sprinkling Irrigating Apparatus."

# of acres irrigated in US quadrupled

Peak tractor sales in the US (~ 800,000) occurred in 1951

Tractor HP exceeded horse/mule power in ~ 1930

TODAY - India is the # 1 market for tractors

John Deere and

International

Harvester were the

first companies to

introduce corn

head attachments

for their combines.

1954 Corn head attachments for combines

Corn heads allowed farmers to use just one combine to

harvest small grain crops in the summer and corn and

soybeans in the fall but required new handling and

storage systems for shelled corn.

How many of you have ever seen a corn crib?

How many of you have ever seen a

corn crib full of ear corn?

When I was growing up in Maryland most

farms in our area still picked ear corn.

Carl Seiler of Knox County, IL – National champion corn husker in 1932

Frank Hennenfent of Roseville, IL shortly after

winning the open class at Nationals in ‘08

Where will you be on September 29th?

1956 Gyral air seeder patented

The Gyral air seeder, which planted seeds

through a pneumatic delivery system, was

patented in Australia. The technology eventually

evolved into large multi-row machines with a

trailing seed tank and often a second tank

holding fertilizers.

1966 Electronic planter monitors

The DICKEY-JOHN Manufacturing Company introduced

electronic monitoring devices that allowed farmers to quickly

identify problems during planting. Attached to mechanical

planters and air seeders, the devices monitored the number

and spacing of seeds being planted.

During the 1990s, next generation devices were introduced

for yield mapping i.e., measuring and displaying the quality

and quantity of grain entering a combine.

Versatile was the first

company to mass-

produce articulated

four-wheel drive

tractors, starting in

1966 with the D100 and

G100

In 1966, George McKibben established no-till

plots at the U of IL Experiment Station in Dixon

Springs, IL. The plots are now named after

George McKibben. According to Don Holt,

former head of the University of Illinois

agronomy department, "These plots represent

a historic resource," and McKibben's research

on no-till was "probably the greatest single

contribution to control soil erosion“.

McKibben's no-till plots are the oldest

in Illinois and also globally.

Early Allis-Chalmers

no-till planter

Many conservation tillage tools were

developed in the 70s and 80s

Guidance before GPS

1995 Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

The U.S. Department of Defense began constructing a

network of satellites for positioning purposes in the 1970s.

Civilian use began in the 1980s. In 1995, GPS reached full

operational capability and farmers began using GPS

receivers to geo-reference soil sampling, crop scouting,

crop yield data…

In 1999, the first GPS

automated steering

system became

commercially available in

North America.

http://elibrary.asabe.org/data/pdf/6/aavg2009/2009_Lecture_Series.pdf

Planting with Auto steer at the

WIU/ Allison Organic research farm

http://www.deere.com/common/media/images/product/equipment/agricultural_management_solutions/site_specific_farming/application_pro_modules/r2/hero/application_pro_modules_642x462.png

Swath/row control using RTK Guidance

Tiling using RTK Guidance

Will this become the norm in the Corn Belt?

Robotic milking machine

Automatic Milking Systems (AMS), also referred to as robotic milkers, were developed

in Europe and became available there in 1992. The technology was introduced to the

US in 2000 and the first robotic milker was installed on a Michigan farm in 2009.

In 2012, there were 10 dairy farms in Michigan using robotic milking technology.

With current designs, robotic milking

is most appealing to small and

medium-sized dairies. Farms with

hundreds of cows need to purchase

multiple robots, which is currently less

economical than hiring people to milk.

10 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Robotic Milking of Dairy Cows

• How many cows will I have to cull because robots cannot milk them?

• How long does it take cows to learn to use a robotic milking system and what is involved in training?

• How will I know there is a problem with a cow, such as clinical mastitis? And can the system separate unmarketable milk?

• But isn't this way more expensive than other milking systems?

• Do I need to build a new barn to use robotic milking?

• Does Robotic Milking require special feeding? Will it work with TMR?

• Are there issues unique to North America?

• Are there special regulations for robotic milking?

• How good is milk quality from these herds? • How will I spend my time, if there is no milking to do?

Jack Rodenburg - Dairy Cattle Production Systems Program Lead/OMAFRA

There is increasing awareness and development of agricultural robots around the

world. In these pages I will try to bring together the links to projects that I am aware

of. If you know of any links not included here, please let me know!

http://www.unibots.com/Agricultural_Robotics_Portal.htm

Reductions in labor required to produce crops during the 20th century

U of Illinois estimates

http://www.farmdoc.illinois.edu/manage/newsletters/fefo05_17/fefo05_17.pdf

How much fuel is required to perform field operations?

For 12 Long Years, ever since the EPA included off-highway diesel engines

on its hit list of polluters, engine makers have been scrambling, reviewing,

analyzing, redesigning and refining the science of compression ignition to

come up with the world's first smokeless tractor.

And let's just say, they've come a long way, baby. Those black puffs of

smoke that once characterized tractor exhaust have been reduced to a few

particles on a pinhead, thanks to technologies that better control the burning

of fuel.

But one more overhaul is required to get the regulated emissions down to

zero. EPA's final regulations for non-road diesel engines, known as Tier 4,

are at hand, and engineers say it's the toughest round yet.

The Tier 3 regulations reduced by 60% the emissions of the unregulated

engines produced just 12 years ago. Tier 4 requires a 90% reduction

in the levels of PM and NOx set by those Tier 3 standards.

“I always think of the white hankie test for carbon,” says Roger Gault,

technical director of the Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA).

“When you place a hankie over the exhaust, it will remain white if the

engine is compliant. Tier 4 engines will be that clean.”

Large engines rated over 174 hp will have the toughest time meeting the

requirements. Tractor engines this size will require not only advanced

engine technologies but also after-treatment of the exhaust gas.

Because this poses new problems — like how to fit all the new

components and plumbing under the narrow nose of a tractor — the

EPA has staggered the deadlines for this size category. The interim

deadline, which applies mostly to PM, comes up in 2011. The final

deadline, which includes the tougher limits on NOx, is set for 2014. All

farm vehicles with engine power ratings of 174 hp and above and

manufactured beginning on those dates must comply.

Stats are available for

every tractor marketed in

the US since 1920

"It was not as easy as just taking a harvester and putting it out in their existing

field with the existing varieties. They had to change what they were growing,

their irrigation, fertilization—all sorts of things“

“We'd harvest in the daytime, and then we'd work all night putting it back together”

Nearly all of California's tomato crop was converted to machine harvest within ~ 5 yrs.

Failure of the Land Grant College Complex

Who benefited from public investment in

mechanized tomato harvesting?

Mechanical revolution in food processing

Manson Industries - where Rocky popcorn gets packed – Where are the people??

Mechanical revolution in transportation

largest ships carry

~18,000 containers

On any 1 day, > 20 million

containers are traveling at sea

Chinese goods, like Nike shoes, iPods and

Barbies are transported to the U.S. in

20&40-foot steel containers. Once

emptied, the containers pile up at major

transport hubs like Chicago. Grain

merchants have jumped on this opportunity

to back ship grain to China.

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Rural

Exodus

in 638,000

don’t have permanent homes

%

INDIA has

650 million

farmers

Rural exodus in Mexico has had major impact on labor in the US