International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

The agricultural machines become more and more complex and complicated systems aimed to produce cheaper and plenty of agricultural products. The modern farmers uses computer technology and equipment not only for monitoring and analysis of the financial results from his activity, but also for expert assessment of yields, state of soil, crops, animals, machinery, product parameters, climatic conditions. Being acquainted with the principles of operation, structure, parameters and modes of adjustment and work with such electronic systems is becoming an obligatory part of the training of agricultural production experts.

The main physical soil properties are considered highly important for soil fertility. Measuring soil moisture, in-depth soil hardness and soil density can help in choosing an appropriate soil tillage method. The paper shows a practical handbook, which can be used with addition to soil moisture meter and a hardness meter to reach these conclusions. The selection of the tillage method is done by using a paper disk, provided in the handbook, showing good tillage practices.

There are significant benefits to be gained from reduced and no-tillage in connection to soil protection policies but the unique requrements of such practices create the need for seed drills capable of matching these requirements. It is necessary to reach a quantative representation of the effectiveness of different brands of seed drills in order to chose a suitable drill for the task. The seed drill’s efficiency can be judged after the biological and economic risks of its usage have been evaluated. This paper shows a method which uses the technical data of the seed drill and reaches a cumulative grade to evatuate the biological risk and also an existing software which compares and evaluates the economic risk for a chosen seed drill compared to Cross Slot seed drill. Combining the two types of risk evaluation lets us chose the best type of seed drill for seeding in reduced tillage.

The paper discusses the gradual transition from conventional tillage through reduced tillage to no-tillage while creating favourable conditions for increase of organic matter. The paper suggests crop and tillage method rotation for a period of five years in order to facilitate this transition. It also reviews tests of soil physical properties which can help farmers determine how their soils are changing and what effect the change of tillage method has on them.

Sustainability of agricultural production results in reducing the negative trends caused by both climate change and by incorrectly applied technologies for production, which aims to preserve the resource base and maintaining environmental quality. Soils are conditionally renewable natural resource but practically reconstruct in a very long time. Therefore, in order to preserve them relate to nonrenewable natural resources. At its core, soil, where they are intended for agricultural use are processed to meet the needs of people and thus change their properties. By applying appropriate ways of tillage and use the potential of plant residues, it is possible to control physical properties. There is a misconception and myth that getting high yields in agriculture can be maintained only with the addition of fertilizer and / or water. High investments made at the entrance of the agricultural production can easily be pointless, if the physical properties of soil are suboptimal or even below the critical level.The physical properties of the soil, it is essential for processing and has its mechanical structure. It closely depend on a number of other properties such as bulk density, ability to retain water, porosity, adhesion, resistance, etc., Which play an important role in the processing and to obtain sustainable yields.