The process and steps of farming

Ever wondered what processes and steps does farming involve? Read on to find out the basics…

What is the process of farming? Farming can be roughly broken down into the following steps:

• Buying Land

• Preparing the land and soil

• Sowing of seeds

• Addition of manure/fertilizers

• Irrigation

• Protection from weeds and pests

• Harvesting

• Storage of crops

Buying Land: According to multiple sources online, there are a few subtleties involved in buying the right land in the right place. Some of them are that the land should ideally be close to a stream of water and that the upstream water should not contain major sources of pollution. In reality though, a lot of people buy land in their home states or use land that belongs to their family. So I’m not going to cover this section in much detail

Preparing the land and soil: Preparing the land and soil for farming involve multiple steps that depend on whether the land was already used for farming from before or is it a fresh piece of land. If there are remnants of the old harvest, they need to be cleared before the new seeds can be sown. Many times, the old remnants are burnt by the farmer. Other methods might involve manually clearing the land.

Once there is only soil left over on the land, it needs to be prepared using the following 3 steps:

• Ploughing: It is the process of loosening and turning of the compact soil so that air can move in between soil particles and in the future the planted roots can get air. Also, after ploughing, microorganisms and earthworms can move about in the soil. It is also called tilling.

  • Earthworms help the soil because they turn the soil and bring the bottom soil layer to the top and vice versa. They also transfer nutrients from the bottom soil layer to the top soil layer.

  • Microorganisms decay the dead organic matter and convert it into humus

  • Tools used for ploughing:1) Plough. It has a blade attached to the front that is used to cut through the soil. Traditionally drawn by ox or cows, but in modern times tractors are used. 2) Hoe: Used to till the land, remove weeds and dig up soil 3) Cultivator: Modern method. Involves using a tractor to drive a cultivator. They dig up and pulverize the soil. They also kill weeds

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• Leveling: After ploughing, the topsoil is loose and tends to get eroded away. To prevent that, it needs to be levelled so that its foundation is strong. This is done using a leveller attached to a tractor. Leveling also helps in uniform distribution of water during irrigation.

• Manuring: Adding manure during the ploughing phase so that it gets properly incorporated in the soil

Sowing of seeds: Seeds have to be planted apart from each other so that they don’t consume each other’s resources. Also, they have to be planted at the correct depth. Too shallow and they can fly away, too deep and they won’t get air and light to germinate. 2 methods are used to sow seeds:

• By hand: Distribution of seeds is not uniform

• Seed drill: It is the modern method. Done by attaching an iron drill to a tractor. They ensure plants are planted at regular intervals

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Addition of manure/fertilizers: Plants need 16 essential nutrients:

• From air, plants get Carbon and Oxygen

• From water, plants get Hydrogen and Oxygen

• From soil, they get Nitrogen (N), Potassium(K), Phosphorous(P), Sulphur(S), Carbon(C), Magnesium(Mg), Boron, Iron, Manganese, Zinc, Copper, Molybdenum, Chlorine. Out of these, NPKSCMg are macronutrients (needed in large quantities)

They get their nutrients either through manure or through fertilizers.

What is manure and how is it made? Manure is a name given to natural fertilizers. It is made by decomposing plants and animal waste. It does not have a high amount of nutrients, but contains humus. Manure is made either using compost, vermi-compost, or green-manure methods. Composting is the process of converting plant and animal waste to manure. The farmers dig a pit on the farm, where all organic waste material from the farm (such as cow dung, vegetable waste, weeds, etc) are collected. Then the pit is covered with a thick layer of mud to stop air and water from entering. The pit is left undisturbed for months. Here, the microbes present start decomposing the waste to produce manure. There is also a method of using earthworms for the purpose of composting. Earthworms consume almost all organic matter, which then breaks down in their intestine and produces humus. This process is called vermicomposting or vermiculture.

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What are fertilizers?Also called chemical fertilizers, they contain the main nutrients NPK. The advantage of chemical fertilizers over natural manure is that they help in providing a large amount of nutrients and thus increasing plant-yield multi-fold. The two most common fertilizers used are NPK fertilizers and Urea. Urea provides only Nitrogen.

As an aside, growing leguminous crops is also an effective way of adding Nitrogen to soil. Legumes contain Rhizobium bacteria in their roots that convert Nitrogen in the air to Nitrogen compounds in the soil.

Irrigation: Irrigation is the process of giving water to plants through artificial means. Traditional methods of irrigation are:

• Moat: Pulling water out of a well to put in the field using manual human labour

• Chain pump: Consists of two large wheels connected by a chain. There are buckets attached to the chain. One part of the chain dips in the water source. As the wheel turns, the bucket picks up water and lifts it up to the upper wheel, and the water gets deposited into a source.

• Dhekli: Getting water from a well by tying a rope and bucket to a pole. At the other end, we tie a stick or any other heavy object

• Rahat: Using animals to pull water from a well

Modern methods include:

• Drip Irrigation: In drip irrigation, we lay plastic pipes in rows near the crops or plants. These pipes have holes in them. The water seeps from these holes drop by drop.

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• Sprinkler System: Sprinkler systems mimic the phenomenon of rain. In sprinkler systems, the pipes carry water to central locations on the farm. The sprinklers placed there, distribute the water across the fields. The sprinkler method is one of the most efficient irrigation methods to irrigate the uneven land for agriculture. In addition, sprinkler systems provide the best coverage regardless of the size of the farm.

Protection from weed and pests: Weeds are undesirable plants growing alongside the desired plants that rob the crops of their resources such as water and sunlight. They are removed in a process called weeding. Some common weeds are wild oats, grass, Amaranthus etc. Method to remove weeds are:

• Removing weeds by hand

• Ploughing the field to remove weeds before sowing seeds

• Manually removing weeds using a trowel and harrow

Harvesting: Harvesting in India is done manually using sickles and a harvester (which combines harvesting with threshing and winnowing). Threshing is the process of loosening the grain from their husk or straw. Winnowing is the process of separating grain from chaff

Storage of Crops: Storing of crops is a real problem in India. They have to be stored in the correct humidity/moisture level, which is different for different grains. Excess moisture promotes growth of micro-organisms and can rot the crops. Less moisture reduces grain quality. They have to be stored in closed containers. On a small scale, farmers store them in jute bags or metal containers. On a larger scale, silos or granaries are preferred. It prevents moisture from entering the space. Stored crops are treated with insecticides and pesticides. Fumigation is also carried out. There are bio-friendly pesticides such as dried neem leaves