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1201 BCE
Farming Begins
People began farming in West Asia about 12,000 BC. About that time, there was a climate change that made more food plants grow than before. Everybody got more to eat with less work -
1200 BCE
The Early "Plow"
Early farmers didn’t use many tools to help them. They used a wooden stick with a curved iron blade/rawhide on the end to turn up the soil where they would then place the seeds in. -
1200 BCE
Billhook
The billhook was a traditional harvesting tool that was used to cut crops one by one. -
1200 BCE
Human and Oxen Labor
Since they didn't have tractors humans and oxen provided most of the labor. They would do the jobs of plowing, harvesting, and planting. -
1200 BCE
Water Buckets
The early Asian people would grab water from the local river and distribute it throughout their fields(if there was a drought). This task would not only take a long time, but would also put strain on the humans back. -
1000 BCE
Harrow
Harrows were an implement for breaking up soil. They would be made of wood and would usually have many blades that would be able to break up not only the top soil but the heavy soils also. -
300 BCE
New Invention
Light, wheel less plows with iron blades were drawn by oxen; these implements could break up the topsoil but could not handle the heavier soils. -
256 BCE
Irrigation Arrives
They realize the work of using buckets is a tough job and is time consuming. They decide to build their farms near the rivers and let the river slowly flow throughout the crops. -
Newer Upgrade
The irrigation system wasn't good enough so they brought in sprinklers on wheels to spray more crops at once. -
Kubota Tractor
The Kubota tractor allowed the farmers to do the work more efficiently and quickly. The tractor could drag plows which would save time and energy for the farmers. -
Kubota
The 1990 Kubota tractor was another best seller in Asia. The tractor was mass produced throughout Asia. The tractor was much more reliable and more high-tech. -
New Harvester
Introduced in 1996 the harvester became a best seller in Asia. The harvester was small and did not hold the crops. Instead would just cut and leave them there, making the farmer have to pick them up. -
Harvester Upgrade
After using the smaller harvester for almost a decade they upgraded to something bigger and better. They joined the Americas who had bigger machines that would store the crops and shoot them into the container. -
Farming Now
Farming now is much more high-tech and more efficient than ancient times. Work is much easier and there is practically no human work involved except for controlling the machines. -
Current Era Irrigation System
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Current Era Plow
The plow nowadays is attached to a tractor which drags it to break up the soil. Plows these days have wheels to roll to reduce friction. -
Current Era Harvester Combine
The current harvester is cut and shot through a tube into a collector pulled by tractor. It is much more efficient than cutting them one by one with a billhook. -
Current Era Tractor
The current era tractor does the job an oxen or human would have done earlier in Asia. -
Future Tractor
Within the next decade, farming as we know it is expected to be revolutionized by the use of self-driving tractors and robots that can perform time-consuming tasks now done by humans. -
Future Irrigation System
Within the next couple decades farmers are anticipating the population to increase by 20% which will create a high demand for food. Farmers are looking at huge drones to water their fields instead of the irrigation systems in place now. -
Future Harvesting Combine
Farmers predict it might look something like this, but they aren't quite sure. The blades would obviously cut it, but then the cut crops would be sucked up into a container at the front and would also be stored. -
Future Plow
The plow will be attached to one the self driving tractors that will pull it throughout the fields.
