Crop harvesting, a crucial part of cultivation, has traditionally depended on manually, and despite technological advancements benefiting most crops through mechanical harvesting, the manual method of harvesting of shorter crops (one foot in height) continues to persist. Recognizing this challenge, an innovative solution has emerged a self-propelled battery-operated leafy-vegetable harvester specifically designed for leafy vegetables, integrating battery technology to mechanize the harvesting. Design Expert statistical software was used to identify optimal solutions for the laboratory analysis harvester using the Response Analysis and Multi-Parameter Simulation (RAMPS) model. The analysis revealed that the highest cutting efficiency was achieved at a cutter bar speed of 370.67 strokes/min with a forward speed of 2 km/h. Further optimization showed that a reel speed of 0.32 m per second at a forward speed of 1.65 km/h, with a driven pulley size of 558 mm (level 6 of B), resulted in highest harvesting efficiency. Additionally, the optimal conveyor performance was observed at a speed of 0.86 m/s, with a forward speed of 1.857 km/h and a driving pulley size of 101.6 mm (level 3 of A). The harvester was tested across speeds ranging from 1.5 to 5 km/h, with power requirements between 157 and 542 watts. Within this range, the battery-powered harvester provided an operating time of 2.25 to 7.8 h and the total energy required as 107.36 MJ/ha. By integrating battery technology, the harvester influences to sustainable agricultural practices, supporting with global efforts to minimize carbon emissions. This innovative attempt provides a viable solution for smallholder farmers, developing agricultural productivity and supporting the transition to more sustainable farming methods.

Sustainable agriculture is central to addressing the difficulties farmers face, such as a lack of manpower, high input prices, and environmental effects from the widespread use of chemical herbicides. In farming, eliminating unwanted plants from crops is a laborious task crucial for enhancing sustainable crop yield. Traditionally, this process is carried out manually globally, utilizing tools such as wheel hoes, sickles, chris, powers, shovels, and hand forks. However, this manual approach is time-consuming, demanding in terms of labor, and imposes significant physiological strain, leading to premature operator fatigue. In response to this challenge, blade and tine-type push weeders were developed to enhance weeding efficiency for smallholder farmers. When blade and tine push weeders are pushed between the rows of crops, the front tine blade of the trolley efficiently uproots the weeds, while the straight blade at the back pushes the uprooted weeds. This dual-action mechanism ensures effective weed elimination by both uprooting and clearing the weeds without disturbing the crops. The blade and tine-type push weeders demonstrated actual and theoretical field capacities of 0.020 ha/h and 0.026 ha/h, achieving a commendable field efficiency of 85%. The weeders exhibited a cutting width ranging from 30 to 50 mm, a cutting depth between 250 and 270 mm, a draft of 1.8 kg, a weeding efficiency of 78%, and a plant damage rate of 2.7%. The cost of weeding was 2108 INR/ha for the green pea crop.

Coriander is a significant crop, playing an essential role in daily life for various purposes, including flavouring curries and medicinal uses, among others. Despite its importance, coriander is still harvested manually. To address this, developed a self-propelled battery-operated coriander harvester, designed with ergonomics, environmental sustainability and affordability for small and marginal farmers in mind. The harvester is equipped with a main frame, a lead-acid battery, a BLDC motor, a reciprocating cutter bar, a PU conveyor belt, a collection bag, a handle, and transport wheels. The harvester was tested on the coriander crop, and the results were analyzed using Design Expert software to optimize various operational parameters. The harvester’s performance was evaluated at three forward speeds: 1.5 km/h, 2 km/h, and 2.5 km/h, resulting in covered areas of 0.114 ha, 0.164 ha, and 0.22 ha, with field efficiency values of 76%, 82%, and 88%, respectively. Optimal harvesting conditions were identified by design expert software at a forward speed of 1.64 km/h, with a conveyor driving pulley at level 3 (50.8 mm) and a cutting height at level 2 (75 mm). Under these conditions, the harvester achieved a harvesting efficiency of 97.24% and a cutting efficiency of 98.2%, with minimal conveying loss of 0.96%. The theoretical field capacity was 0.16 ha/h, the actual field capacity was 0.131 ha/h, and the overall field efficiency was 81.8%.

Since the beginning of time, agricultural practice is what people used to base their civilization. It affected the societies and economies and cultures in the world. Looking at the current level of the dynamic in technology and at the same time the world facing the challenges of problems in the environment and global, we require a new era of the development in farming, which will be based on the growth of technology, data-creating and smart decision making. The book Smart Farming and Digital Agriculture: Technology-Driven Solutions to future has targeted to present the ground rules to this shift and the learning of digital innovations to the future agricultural practices and environmental sustainability policies. This book has fifteen chapters that will take you through the various forms of developments, such as artificial intelligence, precision agriculture, the Internet of Things, big data, drones, robotics, blockchain, climate-resilient methods, etc. Individual chapters will deliver an integrated perspective of both science and practice in a bid to better empower students, researchers, practitioners as well as policy-makers to have insights of the promise, in addition to practice of digital agriculture. With this book, we would like to contribute to more knowledge of the technology and even the human component of farming. The farmers are the backbone of any agrarian society and farming is as a legacy and a moral imperative that can be applied to the growth of food security as well as the preservation of the environment. It is time to consider how it can be turned into a profit without having to use natural resources using sustainability and intelligent practices. We had been aiming to contribute a positive, practical instrument to anyone of us striving to make agriculture work to a future business involving a collaborative, intelligent, and empathetic venture. Digital agriculture is not merely a digital one, it is, in reality, a collaborative venture - participatory, and rooted on the fact that we are able to desire to take care to feed the world responsibly.

Manual harvesting of fenugreek ( Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) leaves using sickles requires intensive labor and forces workers to adopt prolonged stooped postures, often resulting in musculoskeletal strain and reduced operational efficiency. To address these limitations, a self-propelled battery-operated leafy vegetable harvester was developed and evaluated under field conditions in fenugreek. Machine performance was assessed using a factorial experimental design with three forward speeds (1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 km h ⁻¹ ), three conveyor driving pulley diameters (50.8, 76.2, and 101.6 mm), and two cutting heights (50 and 75 mm). The developed prototype achieved a theoretical field capacity of 0.16 ha h ⁻¹ and an effective field capacity of 0.13 ha h ⁻¹ , resulting in a field efficiency of 81.25%. The machine operated continuously for 6.5 h on a single battery charge. Performance evaluation indicated a cutting efficiency of 98.1%, harvesting efficiency of 97.15%, and a conveying loss of 0.95%. Under a cut-and-come-again harvesting system, agronomic yields were 30.7 q ha ⁻¹ at 31 days after sowing (DAS), followed by 24.2 q ha ⁻¹ and 20.3 q ha ⁻¹ at 47 and 61 DAS, respectively. These results demonstrate that the developed battery-operated harvester provides an efficient mechanized solution for fenugreek harvesting, reducing labor drudgery while improving harvesting efficiency and operational productivity. The study highlights the novelty of integrating crop-specific mechanical design with optimized operational parameters to enable efficient mechanized harvesting of fenugreek under a cut-and-come-again production system.

This paper addresses a self-propelled battery-operated harvester to harvest the green leafy vegetables through the conceptualization, analysis, and testing of the developed machine. This harvester seeks to mitigate this problem by providing an efficient and easy to use system that is cheaper compared to the conventional technique, which greatly reduces labour costs while increasing efficiency. The design incorporates certain agronomical and ergonomic parameters and agrees the harvester to be adjusted to the field condition and comfortable to use by the operators. Laboratory assessments and field estimates were conducted to measure the harvester's performance in terms of power management, cutting efficiency and speed control. Results indicate that the harvester operates optimally at a forward speed of 1.857 km/h with a conveyor speed of 0.86 m/s, utilizing a 558 mm pulley. The harvester's power desires and operational efficiency were analyzed using advanced statistical models, demonstrating significant reductions in energy consumption compared to manual harvesting. By integrating battery technology, the harvester influences to sustainable agricultural practices, supporting with global efforts to minimize carbon emissions. This innovative attempt provides a viable solution for smallholder farmers, developing agricultural productivity and supporting the transition to more sustainable farming methods.