Agricultural mechanization

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Threshing machine powered by a Lanz locomobile from 1911
Threshing machine in Mladá Boleslav with 4 HP Slavia motor drive (1932)
Lokomobile drives a threshing machine in Groß-Gerau at the end of the 19th century
Self-propelled locomotives, a so-called plow locomotive
Lanz Bulldog from 1939, an early farm tractor

The mechanization of agriculture is a development process during which production and economic methods changed radically in the industrialized countries between the end of the 19th and the second half of the 20th century . As a result of mechanization and associated industrialization , the total number of human labor in agriculture has decreased enormously. This development had an enormous impact on the labor market and on the population development of rural and urban areas, because while the number of inhabitants in rural villages steadily decreased, it rose rapidly in the cities at the same time (see rural exodus ).

Historical development

A first step in mechanization was the advent of threshing machines , which were initially operated with muscle power (often by horses ). The hay harvest could take place twice a year in some regions; it was a physically demanding job . In the course of the progress in the construction of internal combustion engines and the invention of motor-driven motor vehicles , first considerations and attempts were made to use this technology also to make work easier and to increase the efficiency of agriculture. At the end of the 19th century, the first attempts were made with motorized tractors , early forerunners of the tractors , which initially proved to be too weak. In the early days of motorization, steam-powered vehicles were used in parallel to the internal combustion engines that are common today , which were cumbersome and heavy and therefore not established in the automotive sector in the medium term, but for stationary operation on the edge of fields or in agricultural operations as drive units for other devices well suited. Larger companies therefore began in some cases with the procurement of so-called locomobiles . Now that a reliable source of power was available, other devices were also developed that could be operated with their help, such as the baler for hay and straw.

At the same time, the further development of tractors and farm tractors with combustion engines took place. In Germany , this development started in the 1920s, in particular through the tractor developments by the two companies Heinrich Lanz AG and Deutz AG . Heinrich Lanz AG has been so popular with its models of the " Lanz Bulldog " since 1921 that the name Bulldog has become the generic name for tractors in Germany to this day. In addition, Deutz AG established itself with its diesel engine- powered tractor models, which achieved great sales success in the 1930s. Together with Hanomag , three companies were able to dominate the tractor market and the mechanization of agriculture in Germany in the first half of the 20th century.

The mechanization of agriculture was largely supported by the state for around ten years through the agricultural economy and agricultural policy in the German Reich (1933–1945) in order to achieve self-sufficiency in Germany by increasing domestic food production .

Many tractors from the 1920s to 1960s had a detachable Riemscheibe that in stationary operation for drive belts drive a variety of additional equipment (such as large grinding , threshing , winnowing , baler , hay and Erntegutförderer, Forage (Ernteguthäcksler) Steinbrecher , (firewood) -Kreissäge , cone splitter , Water pump, workshop machines, etc.) could be used and thus combine the advantages of a farm and tractor unit and a stationary drive motor for operating additional equipment. This has made it easier and more effective for human workers to do much of the heavy lifting. Moreover were cutter bars (cutter bar) on tractors, tractor drawn agricultural implements such as plows , harrows , seed drills , rolls , potato harvester , Tedder , Rake , Heulader , trailer , etc., and - particularly in the second half of the 20th century - a plurality of PTO driven Pulled or stationary attachments developed and increasingly facilitated and rationalized the use of human labor in agriculture.

However, the technical development was also significantly advanced in the USA , where the huge cultivation areas in the Midwest could only be worked with machines. The first attempts with combined combine harvesters were made in the 19th century. Self-propelled combine harvesters were then designed in the United States in the 1930s. Tractors and combine harvesters have been gaining ground there since the 1930s; development in Europe was much slower, probably also because the average farm size was considerably smaller, the acquisition of large and expensive machines seemed less worthwhile or was simply not financially feasible.

The spread of tractors reached its peak in the 1950s to early 1960s ( tractor boom ). Since then, the number of registered tractors has declined, but with other agricultural equipment, further technical progress with increased performance can be observed, which, however, lead to higher energy consumption.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Friebertsäuser: Land and Stadt im Wandel - Dialect and rural working world in the Biedenkopf-Marburg district , Marburg 1991