Major crop nutrient fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK)) are typically applied in powdered (small particles), granular (larger particles) or in liquid form either as individual or as compound fertilizers. The fertilizer may be applied using a combine (corn) drill where the seed is contained in one hopper and dry fertilizer in another behind it. The widespread use of modern steel harrows in the United States was delayed until the 1880s, roughly fifty years after the massive shift to cast iron and steel plows. When tractors were introduced, they began to be used universally for primary tillage, while animals continued to be used for other types of soil preparation.
Even though bioethanol is an outstanding renewable engine fuel, it is more suited to Otto gasoline (petrol) than to farm diesel engines. Electricity may be generated from a range of renewable sources including wind, wave, hydro and biomass, but on-farm generation is unlikely except on a small-scale or on the basis of specialized energy or wind-power farms.
The choice or selection of agricultural equipment is dictated by a multiplicity of factors including the nature and size of the enterprise, the profitability and access to finance, the economic status of the region, the accessibility to a range of equipment options at local level, the ownership (individual, shared or cooperative) of equipment and access to mechanization contractors.
Because mechanization of harvesting is directly dependent on labor costs, it is rarely profitable in low-wage countries. The higher the control intensity of the operation, the higher must labor costs be to warrant using a machine. Crop husbandry. Weeding and cleaning of crops, fields, and orchards are control-intensive operations. In animal systems, people go on weeding by hand long after the introduction of the plow and cart-until rising wages make herbicides profitable.Any analysis of the potential contribution of mechanization to growth applies as much to a socialist as to a capitalist economy. In both, payoffs depend on the opportunity costs of labor, land, and capital.
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