English scholar Thomas Malthus believed that food-population balance is always necessary. But modern agriculture expanded the status quo of physical resources’ availability as stated by him.

Agriculture evolved in innovative and inspirational ways in the previous decades. With a new approach to increase farmer efficiency, collaborative efforts have changed the course of agriculture in our times.

Minimising human efforts to get the highest yield is what defines modern agriculture. New farming implements in India became possible with brilliant use of technology and ergonomic innovative ideas put together.

With the passage of time, new upgradations in technology and understanding led to save both time and money in farming.

Here is the list of practices that made agriculture possible in unthinkable ways-

Improved Irrigation:

Gone are the days when farming depended on natural rain. These days, artificial rains, new and improved versions of watering have made their impact. Some of them are- Drip irrigation, Center Pivot, Sprinkler system (Lawn and Hose end), Subsurface textile irrigation, and irrigation by the lateral move. Likewise, creating farm ponds (that store water) are additional new age reforms of irrigating crops in India. Agriculture has thus shaped into an entirely new entity. Whether it’s irrigating a piece of land with ergonomic implementation techniques or enhancing predictability, modern agriculture surpassed traditional methods in this area for sure.

Innovative Breeding techniques:

If you thought breeding is used for animals only, then here is a surprise. Breeding is used for plants too. To develop a superior yield, hybridization, tissue culture and ploidity are being utilized. In this manner, new varieties can be developed from a single crop. GMO or Genetically Modified Crops were developed from such practices. This, in turn, made it possible to add a new dimension to overall production and quality. It gave rise to drought and harmful pesticides resistant crops. Not only it enhanced productivity but made India a self-reliant and self- sustaining country. Organic farming also comes under the purview of agricultural breeding. Today, most of the farmers have surplus crops to sell and improve their economic condition. This not only made things easier and smooth but has made our nation strong and self-sustaining.

Rise of smart and custom made machines:

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Tractors and tillers were just the beginning. Today, haulers, threshers, drones (in some cases) and the like made its way into shaping the face of Indian agriculture.

Apropos Agro machine manufacturers made it a priority to take part in the second phase of revolution by designing tailor made machine marvels. For example, rotavators, rotary plow, pulverisers are being used in tillage. These reduce the complexity of menial and labourious jobs into a matter of minutes or hours. Threshers came into large scale use for harvesting. Minimised human effort in such an innovative and idealistic way paved the way for machines in agriculture permanently. This has made India a progressive nation in terms of agricultural productivity and output.

The ‘IT’ Agriculture:

With the advent of GNSS and GPS, agriculture made a huge leap for mankind. This made the use of technology possible in ways that revolutionised the entire scenario. Being the successor as the second phase of agri-revolution i.e Green Revolution, it became possible to gauge the growth on a mathematical scale.

Use of data for precise planting, soil data and topographical aspects, precision agriculture makes this practice in farming a milestone of human success. It made it easy to predict the most favourable conditions for a crop to grow.

To foster greater traceability of the crops, build a precise record of the farm, IT proved to be a boon. Improved decision making and enhanced marketing aspects, precision or smart agriculture made its way in the arena of Indian agriculture. It opened new doors to fill the gap of human need. This practice made it possible to monitor crop needs, boost competitiveness and reduce the footprints of farming. To put simply, this became possible when Big Data met agriculture. Researchers were the first one to utilise this practice as part of their projects in farming. It is slowly gaining importance apart from research projects as the costs of such process drops.

These are some of the practices that made India the way it is now. Whether it is technology, smart machinery or innovative ideas, modern agriculture has made its presence felt. It changed the way agriculture was pursued in India.

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Agricultural implements in India thus made its journey from quantitative production machines to qualitative inventions. This has made modern agriculture an indispensable factor of growth.

The growth graph of 2.1% annually in 2017-18 is an indication of this fact. Farmers in India are moving towards mechanisation at a faster rate than it has ever been. The record production of 284.83 million tonnes in 2017-18 with US $ 15.67 billion worth of export speaks volumes of the growing impact of modern agriculture.