From soil-scratching sticks — the first farm “implements” — to satellites that provide signals to automatically guide high-powered tractors and combines, farm equipment has evolved through the ages to continually meet the food and clothing needs of Earth’s ever-growing population.

And as mankind advanced technologically, farmers and equipment makers were among the first to adapt the breakthroughs to the implements and machinery of their trade. For those who call their life’s work farming, each innovation in agricultural equipment represents another step forward in meeting their only goal — produce more food to feed more people.

At the same time, no one has a more abiding respect for the land than those involved in agriculture — though it didn’t always seem that way. Poor farming practices and drought led to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and devastated millions of acres of fertile land. It taught us many lessons.

Today, crop rotation, conservation tillage and new equipment aimed at minimizing soil and wind erosion assure that agriculture will not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Through it all, the tools of farming continued to evolve, a process marked by temporary setbacks and enormous leaps forward. The era when farm equipment moved beyond mere tools to “real” ag machinery was inaugurated in 1784 with the invention of the first stationary threshing machine. Developed by British farmer Andrew Meikle to help ease the backbreaking work of agriculture, it was a landmark invention that, while not achieving commercial success, provided more than a glimpse of where the industry was heading.

Ten years later, Eli Whitney unveiled the first hand-powered cotton gin, considered a marvel at the time because it was able to separate seeds, hulls and other unwanted materials from cotton after it is picked.

But it was Cyrus McCormick’s reaper, first demonstrated in 1831, that laid the foundation for the farm equipment industry we know today. This device, along with McCormick’s self-raking feature, allowed one man to cut 40 acres in a day compared with what 5 men could do by hand. Not only was it the machine that set McCormick apart from other inventors of his time, but it was also his unmatched product development, marketing and manufacturing innovations that created the model that others would follow for the next century or more — from J.I. Case to John Deere to Massey Ferguson. By the mid-1800s, “real” horsepower began to give way to “mechanical” horsepower as the portable steam “traction” engine quickly followed the development of the stationary steam engine.

These developments heralded the coming of the tractor and farming would never again be the same. It was the tractor that brought each new innovation directly to the farmer’s field. It was the genius and creative thinking from individual entrepreneurs that provided many of the greatest breakthroughs in agricultural history, and spurred many of today’s full-line manufacturers. This will become readily evident as you study the accompanying timeline of “Ag Equipment Firsts.”

Ag Productivity Timeline

1830 — About 250-300 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat.

1850 — About 70-90 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2.5 acres) of corn.

1890 — 35-40 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2.5 acres) of corn.

1890 — 40-50 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat.

1890-1899 — Average annual consumption of commercial fertilizer was 1,845,9000 tons.

1900-1919 — Average annual consumption of commercial fertilizer was 3,738,300 tons.

1920-1929 — Average annual use of commercial fertilizer was 6,845,800 tons.

1930 — One farmer supplied 9.8 persons in the U.S. and abroad.

1930 — 15-20 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (2.5 acres) of corn.

1930 — 15-20 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat.

1930-1939 — Average annual use of commercial fertilizer was 6,599,913 tons.

1940 — One farmer supplies an estimated 10.7 persons.

1945 — 10-14 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushes (2 acres) of corn.

1945 — 42 labor-hours required to produce 100 pounds (0.4 acre) of lint cotton.

1940-1949 — Average annual use of commercial fertilizer was 13, 590,466 tons.

1950 — One farmer supplies and estimated 15.5 persons.

1955 ­— 6.5 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (4 acres) of wheat.

1950-1959 — Average annual use of commercial fertilizer was 22,340,666 tons.

1960 — One farmer supplies an estimated 25.8 persons.

1965 — 5 labor-hours required to produce 100 pounds (0.2 acre) of lint cotton.

1965 — 5 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (3 acres) of wheat.

1960-1969 — Average annual use of fertilizer was 32,373,713 tons.

1970 — One farmer supplies an estimated 47.7 persons.

1975 — 2-3 labor-hours required to produce 100 pounds (0.2 acre) of lint cotton.

1975 — 3.75 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (3 acres) of wheat.

1975 — 3.33 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (1.125 acres) of corn.

1970-1979 — Average annual use of commercial fertilizer was 43,643,700 tons.

1980 — One farmer supplies an estimated 75.7 persons.

1987 — 1.5-2 labor-hours required to produce 100 pounds (0.2 acre) of lint cotton.

1987 — 3 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (3 acres) of wheat.

1987 — 2.75 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (1.125 acres) of corn.

1980-1989 — Average annual use of commercial fertilizer was 47,411,166 tons.

1990 — One farmer supplies an estimated 100 persons.