Farm Tools, Equipment, Inputs AND LABOR

CHAPTER 3
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Farm Equipment - These are machineries used in crop production. They are used in land
preparation and in transporting farm inputs and products. These equipment need a highly
skilled operator to use
Farm Implements - accessories pulled by animals or mounted to machineries to make the work
easier.
Farm Tools - objects that are usually light and are used without the help of animals and
machines
Preventive Maintenance - an activity or operation done to prevent malfunction of tools and
equipment and it is done to prolong the useful life of tools and equipment
Repair - to restore to good condition something broken or damaged.

FARM TOOLS IN AGRICULTURAL CROP PRODUCTION

Farm tools, implements, and equipment play very important role in agricultural crop
production.
Their availability makes the work much easier and faster. However, even if one may have the
most sophisticated tools and implements, but does not know how to use them, they are useless.
In order to do crop production operations successfully, one must have a good working
knowledge of the tools, implements and equipment before using them.

Hand Tools
Hand tools are usually light and are used without the help of animals or machines.
They are being used in performing farm activities which involve small areas like
school garden and home garden.
Examples:
• Axe is for cutting bigger size post.
• Bolo is used for cutting tall grasses and weeds and chopping branches of trees.
• Crowbar is used for digging big holes and for digging out big stones and stumps.
• Grab-hoe is used for breaking hard topsoil and pulverizing soil.
• Hand Cultivator is used for cultivating the garden plot by loosening the soil and
removing weeds around the plant.
• Hand Fork is used for inter row cultivation.
• Hand Trowel is used for loosening the soil around the growing plants and putting
small amount of manure fertilizer in the soil.
• Knife is for cutting planting materials and for performing other operations in
horticulture.

• Light Hoe is used for loosening and leveling soil and digging out furrows for
planting.
• Pick-mattock is used for digging canals, breaking hard topsoil and for digging up
stones and tree stumps.
 • Pruning Shears is for cutting branches of planting materials and unnecessary
branches of plants.
• Rake is used for cleaning the ground and leveling the topsoil.
• Shovel is used in removing trash, digging loose soil, moving soil from one place to
another and for mixing soil media.
• Sickle is a hand-held agricultural tool with a variously curved blade typically used
for cutting weeds.
• Spade is used for removing trash or soil, digging canals or ditches and mixing soil
media.
• Spading Fork is used for loosening the soil, digging out root crops and turning over
the materials in a compost heap.
• Sprayers are for spraying insecticides, foliar fertilizers, fungicides and herbicides.
• Sprinkler is for watering seedlings and young plants.
• Wheel barrow is used for hauling trash, manures, fertilizers, planting materials and
other equipment.
• Water Pail is for hauling water, manure and fertilizers.

Farm Implements
• These are accessories which are being pulled by working animals or mounted to
machineries (hand tractor, tractor) which are usually used in the Preparation of land.
These are usually made of a special kind of metal.
•
FARM IMPLEMENTS

Native Plow & Disc Plow

 Plows are farm implements either pulled by a working animal or a tractor. The plow is
specifically used for tilling large areas, making furrows and inter row cultivation. Plows
pulled by working animals are made of either a combination of metal or wood or pure
metal. They are used to till areas with a shallower depth than that of the disc plows
which are pulled by tractors.

Native Wooden Harrow & Disc Harrow

 Harrows are used for tilling and pulverizing the soil. The native wooden harrow is
made of wood with metal teeth and pulled by a carabao while the disc harrow is made
of metal mounted to a tractor.
 Rotavator is an implement mounted to a tractor used for tilling and pulverizing the soil.

COMMON FARM EQUIPMENT

 These are machineries used in crop production. They are used in land preparation and
in transporting farm inputs and products. These equipment need a highly skilled
operator to use.
Hand Tractor is used to pull a plow and harrow in preparing a large area of land.
Four Wheel Tractor is used to pull disc plow and disc harrow in preparing much bigger area of
land.
Water Pump is used to draw irrigation water from a source.
Thresher is a piece of farm equipment that threshers grain, that is, it removes the seeds from the
stalks.
Corn Dehusker machine is used to peel the skin of corn and make maize removed from the
cob.
Rice Harvester makes the harvesting process easier by combining six operations such as
gathering, transporting, reaping, threshing, cleaning and bagging into one machine.
Grass Cutter a device used to cut the grass, as a lawn mower.
Rice Seeder is for sowing germinated paddy seed directly in wetland field.
Miller is to remove the husk and the bran layers, and produce an edible white rice.

PRE-OPERATIVE CHECK UP OF FARM TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

Grab with your working clothes and personal protective equipment (PPE). Proceed to the shop
to retrieve your tools so that you can start clearing away the last remnants of summer and begin
tools to see that they are covered with rust and dirt that has hardened and crusty globs of oil
that have collected dust last vacation.

How to Clean Your Tools and Equipment’s:

 Your shovel, spade, hoe, or even the blades on a hedge trimmer will be a lot easier to
use if you take a few minutes to knock some of the rust off the blade. Not only will this
extend the life of the tool, but also it will cut through the soil better, and thus require less
effort to use, if it has a nice sharp blade.
 It is a good idea to keep a large whetstone in your shop. A whetstone is an ideal tool to
use to keep all of the cutting edges of your garden tools honed. It will work well on
your pruning shear, as well as many other common garden tools.
 The best way to use the stone is to find a way to stabilize the tool that you want to
work on. A bench vise is ideal. You will be able to clamp the tool into place at an angle,
so you can work on it.
 Clamping the garden tool into place with a vise frees up both of your hands to use the
whetstone and gives you more control over what you are doing.
 Apply a little bit of lubricating oil to the end of the tool and carefully begin to work the
stone over the blade.
 Maintain a 30-degree angle between the stone and the blade to form the ideal cutting
edge for your tool. Not only will the edge become sharper, but you will also be
removing any pitting and rust that has formed at the edge of your tool‘s
 In instances where the moving parts of your garden tools (such as with of any new
pruners, shears, and loppers) have frozen in place, like springs and pivot joints, you
should disassemble them first carefully break free any rust or dirt that may keep the
 tool from functioning properly.
 Clean accumulated rust and dirt off all metal surfaces with a wire brush. Remove
stubborn rust from small tools with fine steel wool. Using an old toothbrush with
some lightweight lubricating oil is a great way to work fresh oil into the joints of
most garden tools. Not only will this fresh oil helps your tool to work as it was
intended, but it will also prevent the formation of rust. Use medium-grit sandpaper to
remove rust on larger tools such as shovels, spades, and hoes.
 Once your tools are cleaned, they're ready to be sharpened. When sharpening, try to
maintain the original factory bevel or angle. For pruners, use a whetstone because it
produces a very sharp cutting edge. Depending on the type of whetstone, apply a few
drops of oil or water to the stone. With the beveled side of the blade against the stone,
rub the sharp edge of the blade toward the stone in a curved motion, as if you were
trying to shave off a thin slice from the stone.
 When working with a file, stabilize the blades in a vise or against a solid surface such
as a work bench to avoid injury and ensure an even stroke.
 Always push the file across the blade in a motion away from your body.
 Move the file diagonally, so that its cutting teeth are biting into the metal on the tool.
 When sharpening with a file, do not use oil; metal filings will accumulate and clog the
file's serrations.
 Farm implements like ordinary plow and wooden harrow should be checked
thoroughly before use.
 Loosened bolts and nuts should be tightened firmly.
 Disc plow and harrow should also be lubricated on their moving parts like bearings.
 Tractors should be tuned-up very well by skilled operator. Check on their oil, lubricant,
fuel and cooling system.

FARM INPUTS
 They are defined as products permitted for use in organic farming.
These include feedstuffs, fertilizers and permitted plant protection products.The
resources that are used in farm production. The following are examples

 Seed is a material which is used for planting or regeneration purpose. However

scientifically, it is a fertilized matured ovule together covered with seed coat and it is a
propagating material. Thus, seed is the most vital and crucial input for crop production.
 Fertilizer is a chemical or natural substance added to soil or land to increase its fertility.
There are two types of fertilizer; organic and inorganic.
 Pesticide is a substance used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to
cultivated plants or animals.

Farm labor is the manpower to perform agricultural works such as land preparation,
planting, sowing, plant caring, maintenance, harvesting, and storing.
 It is the comprehensive efforts by an individual or group of men to successfully fulfill
 the needs of the demand of farm operations.

LABOR REQUIREMENT FOR LAND PREPARATION

 Plowing using animal

 Plowing using tractor
 Clearing of the land using hoe
 Harrowing using hand tractor

LABOR REQUIREMENT IN PLANTING OF SEEDLINGS

 Transplanting of seedlings

LABOR REQUIREMENT FOR PLANT CARE

 Fertilizer Application
 Pest Control
 Irrigation
 Weeding
 Harvesting
 Threshing Rice
 Drying Rice
 Threshing Corn
 Drying Corn
 Storing