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Major developments have taken place in the field of agriculture during the last century, one of the most important of which has been the extensive use of machinery. This has had great effects on the environment and on the lives of millions of people around the world.

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Many agree that there are both environmental and financial benefits to agricultural mechanisation.

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Firstly, mechanisation has led to a vast increase in output. For example, the speed of planting crops, spreading fertilisers and pesticides, and harvesting is phenomenal (Haire, 2011).

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A tractor, for example, enables one person to perform much more work that the extra profit, made from having more crop to sell, covers the purchase and running costs (Brown, 2015).

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For example, in England, the increasing use of machines has made it easy for farmers to remove the edges that used to separate fields and many species of butterfly are now facing extinction because they have nowhere to breed (Eriksson, 2017).

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The mechanisation of agriculture refers to the use of any device that is powered by anything other than humans or animals on a farm. Careful consideration of the effects of agricultural mechanisation is essential for any developing country (Cox & Hill, 2005).

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Mechanisation can lead to more sustainable food production and economic benefits, however, the negative impacts on the environment and society cannot be ignored.

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Most governments consider that expanding mechanisation is the only way to feed the ever-expanding human population.

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Therefore, advancements in agricultural practices can benefit both the environment and the economy.

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Despite these highly positive results of mechanisations, there are also several negatives. Mechanisation can result in both unemployment and environmental degradation.

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It is clear to see that the negatives of mechanisation can be devastating.

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A second drawback is the fact that the use of machinery on farms contributes to the environmental destruction. Machines allow larger areas to be cultivated, thus leading to loss of the wildlife habitat (Haire, 2011).

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Another example is the desertification of farmland in Australia due to the over-use of the land by machines (Jones, 2012).

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In summary, there are many disadvantages to the mechanisation of agriculture as well as advantages.

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However, it would be sensible for governments to take steps to minimise the disadvantages of this process for the future.

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Economists point out that, as in all other fields of life, the increasing use of machines inevitably results in farmers needing fewer workers (Horan, 2016). In addition, the people whose jobs are lost often do not have the skills to undertake the newly created jobs, causing social problems in rural communities.

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These processes contribute to equally enormous increases in production. Another advantage is a decrease in costs.