Farm machines for large-scale conservation agriculture

Conservation agriculture is a new form of farming with emphasis on preserving the soil and water resources of the farmland while maintaining sustainable crop production with increased yields. It is achieved with minimal soil disturbance and managing crop residues to protect the soil from wind and water erosion and to enhance soil quality. With the world's limited farmland resources, there is urgency to perfect and adopt this new farming system. While conservation agriculture is a significant enhancement to modern farming, it also poses serious challenges to the mechanization of the required processes and functions. Large-scale agriculture is conducted with highly mechanized farming machines and tractors. Many of these machines were designed for optimal performance under traditional clean tilled farm fields. They often do not perform as designed when applied to conservation farming fields where tillage is minimal and crop residues are maintained over,the soil surface, thus requiring modifications or replacement. A wide variety of farming equipment has been developed or adapted for conservation farming in large scale, mechanized agriculture. Major equipment includes that used to: seed, harvest, fertilize, control weeds and pests, and manage soil conditions. The principle reason for many equipment changes has been the omission of significant soil tillage, but this is the most important change needed to conserve the farmland soil and water resources. While conservation agriculture has required significant changes in large-farm mechanization, more innovation is yet required to achieve the perceived goals. These changes have already increased the precision of the farming processes, reduced the time and energy required per unit of farmed land, and resulted in significant improvement in the preservation of agricultural natural resources.