Harvesting

The cutting and gathering of crops from the field is called harvesting. The traditional way of harvesting crops is to cut them with help of sickles. In large farmers, a combine is used to cut the crop and separate the grain from the husk and straw. All combines do not work the same way. A combine used for harvesting wheat, for example, cannot be used for harvesting cotton or maize.

Separating the grain from the straw is called threshing. Farmers who cannot afford threshers or combines do it manually or with the help of farm animals. The crop plants are beaten upon a stone or wooden slab, or farm animals are made to walk over them in circles.

Winning

Winning is the process of separating the grain from the chaff that gets mixed with it during threshing. It is done by allowing the mixture to fall from a height. The breeze blows away the lighter chaff, while the heavier grain falls in a heap below.

Storage

Fruit and vegetable have a high water content and tend deteriorate rapidly due to the action of their own enzymes, as well as that of microorganism. That is why they are stored in cold storages at temperature below 4 degree cilices.

Grains can be stored at room temperature because they o not have such a high water content. However, they are dried before being stored to discourage the growth of microorganisms. The godowns where grains are stored are first fumigated to get rid of pests. Fumigation is the process of treating a closed room with the vapors of chemical. The bags, bins or soils in which grains are stored are treated with pesticides. Silos are large cylindrical structures divided into compartments. Different types of grains can be stored in the different compartments. Each compartment has an inlet and an outlet. Silos have a built – in arrangement for aeration temperature control and protection from pests.