Harvest

We explain what harvesting is, what systems it can implement and what its ecological impact is. Also, what is the agricultural cycle.

harvest
During the harvest, the parts of the plant that will be marketed are collected.

What is the harvest?

The harvest It is the moment of the agricultural cycle in which the harvest of the planted agricultural goods is carried out (fruits, seeds, grains, vegetables, among others), once they are at their peak of maturity. This moment implies the end of the agricultural cycle, and consists of the separation of the valuable parts of the mother plant, for subsequent processing and marketing.

The word harvest comes from Latin collectformed by the prefix with– (“next to”) and the verb read (“choose”), and it is a practice known to humanity since Neolithic times, in which agriculture was discovered and the first crops were planted. For most of human history, harvesting was done manually, or with the help of hand tools, while today it generally consists of a mechanized procedure, often using machines called “harvesters.”

In different ancient cultures, the harvest was a time of joy and gratitude, in which the gods who provided sustenance were worshiped. For example, the ancient Romans celebrated ludi cereals or “cereal games”, festivals in honor of Ceres, equivalent to the Greek goddess Demeter. Thus, the action of harvesting, understood as the act of gathering or gathering the good, leaving behind the bad or useless, is also used in the popular imagination as a metaphor for receiving what one has given: “you will reap what you have sown.”

Harvesting methods and the ideal time for harvesting and planting normally differ depending on the product harvested. In fact, different fruits or vegetables are harvested taking into account the useful life they have after reaching maturity, depending on the type of product:

  • Climacteric fruits: They are those that can mature after being harvested (and therefore are harvested still green, to prevent them from deteriorating during transportation), such as tomatoes.
  • Non-climacteric fruits: Those that can only mature on the plant, such as pepper or bell pepper.
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Harvests are not always the same, and can be good (abundant) or bad (scarce), depending on the climate, planting methods and the presence of pests and parasites. The development of agriculture has tried, to a large extent, to control these three elements as much as possible, to guarantee the correct growth of plants and the preservation of their fruits. For this, fertilizers, pesticides and various techniques of human intervention in the crop are used, such as artificial selection or even genetic engineering.

The agricultural cycle

harvest agricultural cycle
The harvest is the end of the agricultural cycle that brings the product to the consumer or another industry.

The agricultural cycle is called set of stages that make up agricultural activity and that are repeated annually in regular periods. This cycle or circuit is more or less the same for all types of crops, and covers the following fundamental stages:

  • Soil preparation. Once it is known what foods will be grown, farmers must prepare the soil to ensure that it contains the inputs necessary for plant growth. This may involve the use of fertilizers and fertilizers, or plowing the soil to create furrows in which to deposit the seeds and that allow correct irrigation.
  • The sowing. Sowing consists of introducing seeds, shoots or plants into the prepared soil. This is usually done in spring or summer, always depending on the type of crop. Planting is carried out according to various techniques, many of which take into account the protection of the soil and the maximum use of resources.
  • The monitoring. After being planted, the plants germinate and grow at a variable rate, and require a series of care and attention, such as the appropriate amount of irrigation, combating pests, among others. If everything goes well, the plants grow and produce fruit, which will mature over time until they are ready for harvest.
  • The harvest. The final stage of the circuit is the collection of mature agricultural products, whether fruits, cereals or seeds, and their processing or handling to store them and subsequently transport them to their destination, which may be direct trade with the consumer, or some secondary industry that uses them as raw materials.
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Harvesting systems

manual harvest
The manual harvesting system is more economical and ecological, but less frequent because it is inefficient.

The harvests are carried out according to two different systems: the traditional or manual method, and the modern or mechanized method. The application of one or the other depends on multiple factors, such as available resources or the type of crop to be harvested.

  • The manual system. The manual harvesting method is the oldest known and the one that has been used the most throughout history. Through this process, the farmer or his workers collect agricultural goods directly from the ground or plants with their hands and place them in baskets or wheelbarrows, and then transport them to other spaces where they undergo secondary processes, such as drying, roasting or fermentation. It is an economical and ecological method, but slow and ineffective.
  • The mechanized system. The mechanized method is one that uses modern technologies, that is, machines to process the crop and separate agricultural goods from the rest of the plant. These technologies can consist of large harvesting machines, as in the case of cereals, or mechanical tools that facilitate the work of collectors, allowing for a faster and more profitable harvest, although they often cause ecological damage and have an initial cost. considerable.

Ecological impact of crops

Agriculture, despite being an ancient economic activity, is not exempt from having an ecological impact, that is, from generating damage to the ecosystem. These ecological damages can be summarized as:

  • Deforestation and destruction of ecosystems to enlarge the cultivation platform, especially in extensive agriculture that requires a lot of surface area to plant. This surface is obtained by cutting down and burning forests and other biologically diverse environments, to plant plants of the same type in their place.
  • The impoverishment of soils, especially in monocultures that is, in cases where the same plant is planted over and over again, which deprives the soil of its nutrients. This can be avoided through crop rotation.
  • The contamination of soil and water, through the use of pesticides and agrotoxins to combat fungi, bacteria and insects, which destroy even living beings that are not dangerous to the crop, and, in addition, have a residual effect on groundwater or in rivers, lakes and seas, due to the runoff of water from rain.
  • The damage of agricultural machines to the soil either due to their weight or the fuels and lubricants they release.
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References

  • “Harvest systems” at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
  • “Harvest” in the Language Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
  • “What is Harvesting?” at American Farm Bureau Foundation.
  • “Harvest (agricultural season)” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.