Agricultural equipment with the strength of the calves!

Agriculture and soil. Pollution control, soil remediation, humus and new agricultural techniques.
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Did67
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Re: Farm equipment with the strength of the calves!




by Did67 » 05/07/16, 16:18

chatelot16 wrote:... they work the land for free without energy ...


... without energy other than the fresh biomass, not decomposed, that must be brought as food!

But you're right: plowing remains a "disaster", even improved!

That said, there will still be farmers for a long time! So why not ?
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Re: Farm equipment with the strength of the calves!




by Grelinette » 05/07/16, 18:55

Did67 wrote:But you're right: plowing remains a "disaster", even improved!

I can not imagine that plowing is so catastrophic because it is a technique that has been used for millennia ... since time and with the necessary energy, there must have been farmers and peasants who have asked the question!

Today, even among the followers of ecological agriculture, permaculture and "soft cultivation" methods, there are fans of working the land. That said, we speak of "plowing" but this is not the right term because it is obvious that we are not going to plow the earth, even at a depth of 30 cm with a machine propelled by the calves of cyclists, when well even they are champions of the Tour de France trained and doped with EPO!

At most it is a question of scratching the soil on the surface to loosen it and easily bury the seeds, as is done manually with a spade, a hook or a grelinette, but with a more fun, easier and "collaborative effort" : Cheesy:

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Did67
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Re: Farm equipment with the strength of the calves!




by Did67 » 05/07/16, 19:46

I speak of course, plowing quite deep (20 to 30 cm) with reversal of earth. An energetic chasm, by the way!

And this is one of the most remarkable mystifications: this true-plowing with turnaround is very recent!

See "Jethro Tull vs. Hortège Fight" bottom of page 57 on: agriculture / gardening-more-than-bio-by-plant-live-without-fatigue-t13846-560.html

Until then, the beginning of the 18th century, it was the plow that was used. And which was only "scratching" the earth superficially ...

The worst, of course, are the tiller and the "strawberry" (the rotating machine, not the fruit). Who destroys worms ...

Regarding "the followers of ecological agriculture, permaculture and" soft culture "methods, there are those who are fond of working the land., you will allow me, but that only commits me, to see a lot of bullshit in a lot of sagging, a lot of "beliefs", a lot of mimicry and very little "knowledge".

"Yes, but it works!" I am often retorted. To which I always respond that nature is tremendously resilient and forgives mountains of bullshit. The proof: conventional agriculture works by fire of God, if we look at the yields, the beautiful shape of the products (and if we close our eyes to everything else: damage, pollution, carbon footprint, residues, mudslides, erosion ...). So "it works" is not a sufficient argument.

To conclude: scratching with a tooth tool is of course, much less harmful.

But for me, it is useless.

Now it's cheaper than a ride at the fair. Or an hour in a gym ... So, as long as you have health, why not?

The real problem that this poses is that the ground must be bare: and that is the great stupidity. Bare ground has a natural tendency to cover up. So the "hoeing" is shooting yourself in the foot because it condemns you to hoe again ... And hoe again ... Because we go against nature (except in deserts - hot or cold - and some "toxic" spaces - salty for example), nature always covers all the space that is offered to it, to best capture the solar energy it receives. Any bare soil is therefore the least efficient, the most anti-natural system that exists.

But I leave you. Sorry for this joke. It's stronger than me. A kind of sadness and automatic reaction ...
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Re: Farm equipment with the strength of the calves!




by Ahmed » 05/07/16, 20:15

Some additional remarks: the use of a flywheel makes sense only in a mechanical system where the energy withdrawal is sequential (like a punching machine or a heat engine): from the moment when the effort is continuous, this device is strictly useless, since it serves only to phase anecdotally the energy input and its output ...
On the question of plowing, indeed, the "real" plowing is very recent, as mentioned Did; the main utility of these ancient practices was to destroy weeds; the plow was used in the south of France and the plow in the north, but both were limited to superficial work.
Obviously, to do without a ground cover is a misinterpretation that should now appear as obvious ...
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Re: Agricultural equipment on the strength of debt!




by GuyGadeboisTheBack » 20/01/22, 18:09

I'm posting it here because it's the exact opposite and because I couldn't find the right topic.

Published 10 / 01 / 2022 Innovation.
Autonomous tractor hints at what the farming of the future could be

Image

The Vox site comments on the arrival of the first autonomous tractor, the sale of which is announced for this year. If the news excites the followers of “precision agriculture”, it is only a first step towards this objective… and only one innovation among others.

“The most amazing gadget of the year isn't a TV that displays NFTs, or a folding tablet, or anything metaverse-related. It's an autonomous tractor,” announces Vox. One of the leading American firms in the manufacture of agricultural equipment has announced the launch, during the year 2022, of its model “capable of plowing fields, avoiding obstacles, sowing crops with human intervention minimum”.

The American site describes a vehicle similar to all the others, but equipped with six pairs of stereoscopic cameras to scan the perimeter. It can also be controlled remotely via a smartphone application.
This is certainly […] a big step forward for precision agriculture as a whole […]. Agricultural equipment such as soil sensors, specialized drones and autonomous tractors represent the future of an industry where more can be produced with less effort and less impact on the environment.”


However, many unknowns remain. First of all, the price of this new toy has not yet been communicated by the manufacturer, John Deere. This could exceed 600 dollars (about 000 euros), according to the media, which specifies that the machine is clearly designed for large farms and accessible for the richest operators.
“Facebook of agriculture”?

In addition, there is uncertainty about the ownership of the data collected by this ultra-connected tractor: the mapping of fields, for example, is crucial information with regard to the stated objective of optimizing agricultural areas.

“Almost everything the machine does is recorded and sent to the cloud from an on-board cellular transmitter, and John Deere has the ability to remotely disconnect many of its tractors if it finds someone has tampered with their equipment or is late in its reimbursements.” Finally, this concentration of technologies makes the owner dependent on the maintenance carried out by the firm itself. “They're looking to be the Facebook of agriculture,” an agricultural engineer told Wired magazine.
See also Technologies. Google's agricultural robots ready to swoop down on the fields

John Deere is not the only company to invest in autonomous agriculture: some manufacturers are testing tractors without a cockpit, others are betting on smaller machines or even in drones for sowing or targeted spreading of pesticides. . “As agriculture faces a labor shortage, which some say is getting worse, the concept of self-sufficient farm equipment is particularly appealing,” the headline concludes.
https://www.courrierinternational.com/a ... e-du-futur
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Re: Farm equipment with the strength of the calves!




by Moindreffor » 20/01/22, 18:33

autonomous or not, it all depends on what the farmer hangs behind
if it's a plow or a pulvé we'll stay on the wrong side of the bank
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Re: Farm equipment with the strength of the calves!




by Ahmed » 20/01/22, 18:46

In an absolutely general way, the mass of capital necessary to increase productivity increases from now on to considerable levels and, when these investments result in the expected performances (which is however not always the case) devalues ​​the work of the farmers. who stick to the old standard of productivity. In the long term, the best equipped buy back or cultivate the land of their ex-competitors, because they are forced to produce an additional mass of crops, since the price of the quintal tends to fall because it incorporates less human labor. (and that the machine only adds to it that resulting from its wear, insofar as this itself represents a quantity of work previously expended).
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