No, we have not paid much attention to plowing, where an agricultural revolution is waiting to happen!
Boyet Bajandi shares on Facebook, “John Deere: ‘We Believe In Electric Tractors. 100%’[1]” Sunday, 15 March 2020; I see this as following the paradigm of Modernization, one of “The Eight Paradigms” that Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie has come up with in support of his “New Thinking for Agriculture” for the New PH Agriculture: (1) Modernization, (2) Industrialization, (3) Promotion of exports, (4) Consolidation of Small- and Medium-Sized Farms, (5) Infrastructure Development, (6) Higher Budget & Investment, (7) Legislative Support, and (8) Roadmap Development.
The article is by René Koerhuis, in Future Farming 12 March 2020, where John Deere’s vision is on 3 fields:
(1) Electrification
(2) Artificial Intelligence
(3) Automation and autonomy.
Mr Koerhuis’ article is all of 1,500 words, including title, but those 3 very well sum up where John Deere wants to go.
I now pick a quarrel with #2, Artificial Intelligence, AI, and present my own paradigm against AI – Authentic Intelligence, Authentic I. “Authentic” refers to what is “innate, intuitive, instinctive[2].”
When John Deere says, “We believe in electric tractors. 100%,” I understand it to mean not only 1 thing but actually 2 things:
(1) In agriculture, all John Deere tractors should be run by electricity.
(2) John Deere’s tractors, and their implements, define the best agriculture.
I do not agree with either proposition. There are other “climate change-friendly” sources of power, not only electricity, such as biofuel. That’s why I will insist on Authentic I, not AI. Authentic means conforming to fact[3]; I add observable, repeatable.
And, some tractor implements are harmful actually! Let me explain.
With plowing repeated using tractor disc blades (and moldboard plows), the soil layer below becomes compacted[4]. The resulting hard pan not only impedes field drainage of water but also the growth of plant roots and, thus, adversely affects everything up to and including yield. That’s Authentic I.
But no, the culprit is not the tractor but the implement that while it is doing its job, is undoing the would-be job of the roots of the farmer’s crop. Now then, Authentic I will have to teach the tractor operator the intelligent, natural way to increase the environmental benefit of plowing!
It’s not plowing – it’s rotavating. The difference is Big. In plowing, the discs dig down deep and bring up large chunks of soil, causing a hard pan over time. In rotavating, the inverted L blades (above image) cut to pieces the soil, weeds, green manure and/or crop refuse – mixing them and creating a layer of organic mulch all over the field. Perfect fertilizer!
We do not need Future Farming – we need Authentic Farming today, which we can do right now, with no additional or new, improved tools. John Deere has the rotavator, but not the revolutionary spirit behind it. The rotavator was invented by Australian Arthur Clifford Howard in 1920, or 100 years ago yet!
I believe in The Rotavator 100%!@517
[1] https://www.futurefarming.com/Machinery/Articles/2020/3/John-Deere-We-believe-in-electric-tractors-100-552869E/?fbclid=IwAR0FKaTfecim8IjIHNVGlaGuSVx0Rkl-adMcqNV95jkdQeKsfxQL1ossU9E
[2] https://www.powerthesaurus.org/artificial/antonyms
[3] https://www.thefreedictionary.com/authentic
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardpan
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