A man and woman displaying an old horse-drawn plough. In our great-grandparents' time, most farmers used ploughs like this one. Today large machinery is used on farms.
Courtesy of Jim Rogers.A man and woman displaying an old horse-drawn plough. In our great-grandparents' time, most farmers used ploughs like this one. Today large machinery is used on farms.
Courtesy of Jim Rogers.Tillage is the preparation of soil for planting crops. The soil must be free of weeds and stones, and nutrients must be present for crops to grow well.
Before the farm tractor was invented soon after 1900, hoofed animals like oxen, mules and horses would drag ploughs to till the soil.
Here you can see an image of how our great-grandparents might have tilled the soil.
Tillage is much simpler and speedier today, with sophisticated tractors available to make the job much less labour intensive for farmers. Because of the equipment available, it is possible to farm crops on a much larger scale today than in the past.