The handling equipment has a storied history. During the Industrial Revolution, farming became something that was actually profitable as more sophisticated agricultural tools were introduced. Cultivation of grains was earlier done by hand and hence was time consuming and difficult. However, the Industrial Revolution changed everything by bringing machines on wheels, which helped in planting and harvesting crops. These machines were also used to separate the stalks and seeds so that the grain could be quickly ready for market. The Industrial Revolution changed grain farming forever by giving farmers a more efficient way to grow, harvest, and sell their agricultural products.
Initially, farmers used livestock to pull the material handling equipment needed to prepare land for planting. During the Industrial Revolution, the steam engine was the precursor to the engine used in agricultural tractors. Once the engine became popular, grain farmers were able to quickly equipment and plant their fields by riding their tractors instead of hitching horses to hand-powered equipment. They also used steam engines in other machines that were used to harvest their grain. Although earlier engine-driven tractors were slower than today’s smooth machines, they were certainly better than doing all the farming by hand!
Internal combustion and diesel engines were introduced shortly after the first steam engines. They were instrumental in making grain farming more efficient because they were faster and more efficient at work. It was used not only in tractors, but also in harvesters and combines. All the threshing (separating the grain seeds from the stalks) was done by harvesting machines, so that this task did not require time-consuming manual labour.