ABSTRACT
A farm’s power requirements increase dramatically as cropping is intensified. Animal power is sufficient on farms up to 2 hectares in size, especially when the soil is tilled wet. A smaller power unit can be more easily purchased by a single farmer or a small group, and it can be used efficiently to service a small area on an intensive-cropping schedule. Secondary mechanization includes all farm uses of mechanical power other than primary tillage. The most common and profitable application of secondary mechanization is in water pumping, which has an immediate beneficial effect on crop productivity. A final application of farm mechanization is for on-farm transportation. A farmer’s fields are often widely separated, requiring considerable hauling of materials, produce, and people. Mechanization is often accused of displacing farm labor, idling rural workers and forcing them to migrate into overcrowded cities where unemployment is already high.
