Overview
Overview
In the past, farming was a very manual and extremely labour-intensive job. Over the last two hundred years, the development of new farming equipment reduced the amount of manual labour it takes to grow a crop.
Advances in farming equipment have made a big impact on the farming industry, making it much less labour-intensive.
When people first began working the fields, they used their own power and strength to work the soil. For thousands of years, farm work was done by hand. Then farmers started to use animals, such as oxen and horses to help. Farming changed, even more, when the equipment was developed. The goal was always to make growing food easier for farmers.
Photo Credit: Western Development Museum
This man is holding onto a plow as it is pulled by a horse to break the prairie soil.
When settlers moved to Saskatchewan, they used animals to help pull farm equipment.
From the invention of the first tractor to tractors that can be driven with autosteer today, the advancements in farm equipment continue to change agriculture.
Farmers are great problem-solvers and very creative. Most of the farm equipment inventions and improvements were made by farmers! Farmers modified or designed equipment on their own to help it work better or solve a problem. Many of these innovations were patented and are now manufactured in Saskatchewan and sold around the world.
This tractor has an autosteer so it drives on its own. A farmer still needs to be in the tractor to override or stop in case of any problems.
Today, farmers can farm much more land in the same amount of time thanks to innovative equipment and technology. Let’s look at how farming equipment has developed over the years!