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What Do Farmers Dig Soil With?

Food production and agriculture is a primary occupation of all economies. Agricultural economies depend upon natural resources and rich land with cultivable soil. Different types of soil are favorable to grow different types of crops, and different tools are used to work the soil for cultivation.

  1. Financial Resources and Infrastructure

    • Amidst advancement in scientific methods and innovations being researched and used in cultivation of crops, agriculture in large scale is highly mechanized in developed economies. The availability of financial resources coupled with infrastructure in terms of equipment has enabled farmers to attempt large-scale farming. In developing countries and other economies in Asia and Africa, agriculture is fragmented and manual. Even today, farmers are tilling soil with hand-plows and the help of animals.

    Soil Cultivation

    • Tilling the soil and preparing the soil is one of the major processes involved in agriculture. In simple language, tilling involves preparing the soil by plowing, mixing and turning it around. The primary purpose of plowing soil is to aerate the soil to enable germination and penetration of roots. Plowing also mixes in manure and compost and fertilizes the soil evenly across the field to ensure the soil is rich with the required nutrients to help plant growth. In addition, cultivation effectively destroys and controls the weeds that grow between the crops.

    Significance of Soil Tilling

    • Tilling the soil must be done in stages, using the correct equipment to ensure the right level of soil is tilled, and that it is evenly prepared across the field. The tilling process consists of primary tilling and secondary tilling. Primary tilling consists of loosening the soil and mixing in the fertilizer, compost or manure. Secondary tillage prepares the soil for seeding and includes formation of rows and beds.

    Soil Instruments

    • Farmers use a lot of tools and equipment in tilling and plowing the soil, depending upon the purpose, size of the bed and the crop. The equipment includes plow, disk plow, harrow, hoe, rotary tiller, shovel, roller and various types of tillers. These are used in combination along with tractors and other driving mechanisms. The basic form of tilling the soil is to use a spade and dig by hand. This is hard work and used mainly in kitchen gardens or on small patches of land.

    Traditional Plowing Instruments

    • Traditional plowing equipment consists of a simple plow made out of iron plate that digs into and turns the soil. The plow is driven by horses, cattle or other domesticated animals in some societies, whereas tractors are used normally to drive the equipment. After plowing the first time to loosen the soil, the next stage involves usage of a chisel plow or disk plow to break up the soil. Chisel plows, also called spring harrows, are three-point attachments containing steel springs like blades with sharp tips which break up and loosen the soil lumps.

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