Crops have been harvested by hand throughout most of human history.

Straw bales after the mechanical harvesting of a field in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Straw is an agricultural By-product, the dry stalk of a Cereal plant after the Grain or Seed has been removed This article describes the farm machinery For the municipality in Aurora, Philippines, see Baler Aurora.

In agriculture, the harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture In Agriculture, a field refers generally to an area of Land enclosed or otherwise and used for agricultural purposes such as Cultivating crops Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. Pulses are annual leguminous crops yielding from one to twelve Grains or Seeds of variable size shape and color within a Pod, according For the ancient Sicilian tyrant see Scythes. A scythe (ˈsaɪð from Old English siðe. A sickle is a hand-held Agricultural Tool with a curved Blade typically used for harvesting grain crop or cutting grass for Hay. A reaper is a person (or machine who reaps or harvests (cuts and gathers crops when they are ripe ^[1] The harvest marks the end of the growing season, or the growing cycle for a particular crop. Harvesting in general usage includes an immediate post-harvest handling, all of the actions taken immediately after removing the crop—cooling, sorting, cleaning, packing—up to the point of further on-farm processing, or shipping to the wholesale or consumer market. In Agriculture, Postharvest handling is the stage of crop production immediately following Harvest, including cooling cleaning sorting and

Important factors

Harvest timing is a critical decision, that balances the likely weather conditions with the degree of crop maturity. The weather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given Atmosphere at a given Time. Weather conditions such as frost, rain (resulting in a "wet harvest"),^[2] and unseasonably warm or cold periods can affect yield and quality. Frost is the solid deposition of Water vapor from saturated air In Agriculture, crop yield (also known as "agricultural output" is not only a measure of the Yield of cereal per unit area of land under cultivation An earlier harvest date may avoid damaging conditions, but result in poorer yield and quality. Delaying harvest may result in a better harvest, but increases the risk of weather problems. Risk is a Concept that denotes the precise probability of specific eventualities Timing of the harvest often amounts to a significant gamble.

On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-intensive activity of the growing season. A farm is an area of land including various structures devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food ( Produce, Grains, or Livestock Mechanization or mechanisation ( BE) is providing human operators with machinery to assist them with the physical requirements of work Manual labour (or manual labor) is physical work done with the hands especially in an unskilled job such as fruit and vegetable picking road building or any On large, mechanized farms, harvesting utilizes the most expensive and sophisticated farm machinery, like the combine harvester. Agricultural machinery is one of the most Revolutionary and impactful applications of modern Technology. The combine harvester, or simply combine, also known as a thresher is a machine that combines the

Etymology

Before the 16th century, harvest was the term usually used to refer to the Autumn season. Autumn (also known as fall in North American English) is one of the four Temperate Seasons Autumn marks the transition from Summer However, as more people gradually moved from working the land to living in towns (especially those who were literate), the word came to refer to the actual activity of reaping, rather than the time of year, and the terms Fall and Autumn began to replace it in the former sense. traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write or the ability to use Language to read, write, listen,

Other uses

The word harvest commonly refers to grain and produce, but also has other uses. In addition to fish and timber, the term harvest is also used in reference to harvesting grapes for wine. Fish are aquatic Vertebrate animals that are typically ectothermic (previously Cold-blooded) covered with scales, and equipped with two Lumber or timber is Wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural Material for Construction, or The Harvesting of Wine Grapes is one of the most crucial steps in the process of Winemaking. Wine is an Alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of Grape juice Within the context of irrigation, water harvesting refers to the collection and run-off of rainwater for agricultural or domestic uses. Irrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil usually for assisting in growing crops Energy harvesting is the process by which energy (such as solar power, thermal energy, wind energy, salinity gradients and kinetic energy) is captured and stored. Energy harvesting (also known as Power harvesting or energy scavenging) is the process by which Energy is captured and stored In Physics and other Sciences energy (from the Greek grc ἐνέργεια - Energeia, "activity operation" from grc ἐνεργός Body harvesting, or cadaver harvesting, is the process of collecting and preparing cadavers for anatomical study. A cadaver or corpse is a dead Body. "Cadaver" is normally used as a more formal term for a body being used in medical training or research Anatomy (from the Greek anatomia, from ana separate apart from and temnein, to cut up cut open is a branch of Biology that is the consideration In a similar sense, organ harvesting is the removal of tissues or organs from a donor for purposes of transplanting. Organ harvesting is the removal retention and use of human organs and tissue to be used in transplants.

See also

• Harvest (wine)
• Harvest festival
• Winnowing
• Threshing

References