Harry L. and John Solie. (2007) states that agricultural technology refers to
technology for the production of machines used on a farm to help with
farming. Agricultural machines have been designed for practically every
stage of the agricultural process. They include machines for tilling the soil,
planting seeds, irrigating the land, cultivating crops, protecting them from
pests and weeds, harvesting, livestock feeding, and sorting and packaging
the products. Agricultural technology has been driven by the need for food to
feed a growing population.
According to Van Der Warf (2002) Genetically engineered crops are herbicide
tolerant, and their overuse has created herbicide resistant "super weeds",
which may ultimately increase the use of herbicides. Seed contamination is
another problem of genetic engineering; it can occur from wind or bee
pollination that is blown from genetically engineered crops to normal crops.
This accidental contamination can cause organic farmers to lose a lot of
money because they need to recall their products.
PURPOSE OF PROJECT
Technology and agriculture is no longer considered as mutually exclusive and
at two different ends of the spectrum. This is because there is an increase in
population and so one has to rely on technology to increase production for
food security. However sometimes sustainable agriculture is not maintained
and so the main purpose of this project is to investigate the impact of
technology used in agriculture on selected farms in Jamaica.