This study comprehensively examines the applicability of the 5S methodology as a tool for enhancing efficiency, occupational safety, and sustainability in the agricultural sector. The 5S methodology, predicated on the principles of sorting, organising, cleaning, standardising, and sustaining, aims to create safer and more productive workplaces. The research investigates its effects on both indoor agricultural machinery manufacturing processes and outdoor crop production practices. The analysis reveals notable advantages in manufacturing processes, including reduced waste, enhanced occupational safety, and improved product quality, particularly in production, assembly, and quality control processes. However, the methodology faces limitations in outdoor agricultural practices due to seasonal variations and open-field conditions, which challenge the cleaning, sorting, and organising stages. However, its application in maintenance, repair, and equipment storage processes has been shown to prolong the lifespan of machinery and ensure safer working conditions. The 5S methodology aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, serving as a practical approach to enhancing efficiency, workplace safety, and resource management in the agricultural sector. This study underscores the 5S methodology's promise as a sustainable solution for enhancing productivity and safety in agriculture.

The increasing use of plant protection machinery in modern agriculture has intensified concerns regarding pesticide-related risks affecting both human health and the environment. Despite extensive research on pesticide application, the prioritization of these risks from a multi-stakeholder perspective remains limited. This study aims to evaluate and prioritize pesticide-related risks associated with plant protection machinery using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). A total of 32 participants representing four stakeholder groups—academia, farmers/operators, manufacturers, and public authorities/non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—were involved in the analysis. Five key risk criteria were identified: operator pesticide exposure, environmental risks related to pesticide drift, machinery tightness and technical safety, ergonomic load and operator strain, and training and operational error risk. Pairwise comparison data were collected and analyzed using AHP to determine the relative importance of each criterion. The results indicate that operator pesticide exposure and environmental risks are the most critical concerns across all stakeholder groups. Although variations in individual judgments were observed, the overall prioritization showed strong agreement, as confirmed by a high Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W = 0.888). The findings highlight the importance of integrating human health, environmental sustainability, and technical considerations in pesticide risk management. The proposed multi-stakeholder AHP framework provides a practical decision-support tool that can be applied to improve safety and sustainability in pesticide application systems.

It is estimated that the world population will be ten billion in 2050, and Türkiye’s population will be 105 million. In order to supply the nutritional needs of the increasing population, new techniques, machine usage/mechanization and technologies are needed in agricultural production. In order for plant production to be conducted at the desired efficiency, the usage of machinery is one of top priority, and the first and most intensive stage is tillage. As a result of the contact and interaction with the soil of the machines used in tillage, some negative situations such as abrasion occur. In order to reduce wear as much as possible, value-added processes are applied to the tillage active elements. The most basic process is to provide the hardness values at the technically desired level by applying regional or general heat treatment to the active elements. The hardness limits of the machines are specified in the Agricultural Machinery and Tractors Test Principles. In this study, the hardness values obtained as a result of the static hardness test conducted in accordance with the standards on 469 active elements belonging to different types of tillage machines were evaluated. The hardness values of the tillage elements of these machines, such as shares, discs, teeth and blades, were examined and the average hardness and standard deviation values were calculated. According to the results, shares of the mouldboard plows (50.7±3.2 HR-C), discs of disc plows (48.5±2.1 HR-C), discs of disc harrows (47.8±2.4 HR-C) and theet of toothed harrows (47.78±2.4 HR-C) are within the limits specified in the principles. The cultivator shares (41.2±6.0 HR-C), subsoiler shares (42.3±3.8 HR-C) and rotary tiller blades (43.8±2.8 HR-C) values are below the limits specified in the principles.