MULUNGUSHI UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL

RESOURCES
ANR 412-FARM STRUCTURES AND
MECHANIZATION

AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY
MANAGEMENT
Lecture No. 3 By J.T. Mwale MSc. BEng.
 Outline of Lecture

3.1 Field Machine Performance

3.2 Costing Machinery Operations

3.3 Machine Selection

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3. Agricultural Machinery Management
 Agricultural machinery is used during relatively short
periods of the year because of the seasonal nature of
farm work.

 Machines of high capacity are required to accomplish

agricultural tasks during these short periods.

 Therefore, agricultural machines must be designed to

have high reliability and high field efficiency.

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3.1 Field Machine Performance
 The productivity of an agricultural machine under field
conditions is measured as the capacity of a machine to utilize
its theoretical operating width.

 Field efficiency is then the ratio between the productivity of a

machine under field conditions and the theoretical maximum
productivity.

 Therefore, the effective field capacity of a machine is

expressed as a function of field speed, machine working width,
field efficiency, and unit area or material yield of the field.
Thus, field capacity is given by:

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  On area basis:

 On material basis:

Where, Ca is field capacity, area basis (ha/h); Cm is field capacity,

material basis (ton/h); v is travel speed (km/h); w is machine working
width (m); Y is yield (ton/ha);and ɳf is field efficiency (decimal).

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 The theoretical time required to perform a given field operation
varies inversely with the theoretical field capacity for which the
field efficiency is 100%. Thus,

Where, τt is theoretical time to perform an operation (h); C at is

theoretical field capacity (ha/h); and A is area to be processed
(ha).

 The actual time required to perform an operation tends to increase

due to overlap; turning on the ends of the field; loading or off-
loading materials, etc.
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 Thus, the efficiency of a given machine to perform an
operation can be calculated on the basis of time thus:

Where,
τe is effective operating time (h) = τt /Kw ;
Kw is the fraction of implement width actually used;
τa is time losses proportional to area (h); and
τh is time losses not proportional to area (h).

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Exercise 3-1
A self-propelled combine with an eight-row corn head for
75cm row spacing travels at 5km/h while harvesting corn
yielding 9.4 ton/ha. Losses proportional to area total to
7.6min/ha and are primarily due to unloading grain from the
combine. Neglecting any other losses, calculate the field
efficiency and the field capacity on an area basis and material
basis.

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3.2 Costing Machinery Operations
Machinery costs include costs of ownership and operation as well as
penalties for lack of timeliness.

Ownership costs are often called fixed or overhead costs, and are
independent of the time a machine is used.

Operating costs increase in proportion to the amount the machine is used.

Total machine costs are the sum of the ownership and operating costs.

These costs can be calculated on an annual, hourly or per-hectare basis

and/or in terms of the custom costs.

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Total per-hectare cost is calculated by dividing the total annual cost by
the area covered by the machine during the year.

A custom cost is the price paid for hiring an operator and equipment to
accomplish a given task.

3.2.1 Ownership Costs

Ownership costs include depreciation of the machine, interest on
investment, taxes, insurance and housing of the machine.

Depreciation
Depreciation is the reduction in the value of a machine with time and use.
It can be determined when the machine is sold or estimated using
techniques such as the straight-line method.

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 The straight line method is given by:

Where, D is depreciation ($/yr); P is purchase price ($); S is

salvage value ($) usually 10% of the purchase price; and L is
the machine life (yr).

 Machine life refers to the length of time the machine is in

service dependent on the feasibility of repair or replacement
wear or obsolescence.
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Interest on investment
 This refers to the cost of foregoing other productive
enterprises when money is spent to purchase a machine. The
real interest rate on the investment can be defined as:

Where, Ip is the prevailing annual interest rate (decimal); and

Ig is the general inflation rate (decimal).

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 Taxes , insurance and shelter (TIS)
 These respectively include annual sales taxes, insurance
against risk and cost of shelter or garage.

 If the actual costs are not known, assume 2% TIS of the

purchase price or 1% annual tax of the purchase price;
0.25% annual insurance cost of the purchase price; 0.75%
annual cost of shelter of the purchase price

 The total annual ownership costs can be expressed in the

equation:

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Where, Cos is specific annual ownership costs(1/yr); Coa is total
annual ownership costs ($/yr); Pu is purchase price of machine
($); τL is economic life of machine (yr); Sv is salvage value as
fraction of the purchase price; Ir is real annual interest rate
(decimal); and Ktis is annual cost of taxes, insurance and
shelter as percent(%) of purchase price.
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 Exercise 3-2
The purchase price of a self-propelled combine is US
$100,000, and has an expected economic life of 10yr with
a salvage value of 10% of the purchase price. At the time
of purchase, the prevailing interest rate is 8.5%, while the
general inflation rate is 5%. Calculate the specific annual
ownership costs, and the total annual ownership costs.

3.2.2 Operating Costs

 Operating costs are associated with the use of a machine such
as the costs of fuel, labour, oil, repair and maintenance.

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Cost of Fuel and Oil
 This can be determined using the equation:

Where, Cs is per-hectare fuel (oil) costs ($/ha); pL is price of

fuel (oil) ($/L); Qi is fuel (oil) consumed by engine (L/h);
and Ca is effective field capacity during operation (ha/h)

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Estimating Qi
 Fuel consumption is estimated by multiplying the pto power
requirement (kW) by the specific fuel consumption (L/kWh).
For diesel engines, the latter is given by equation:

Where, SFCv is the specific fuel consumption (L/kWh); and

X is the ratio of equivalent pto power requirement to
maximum available pto power [ 0.2 – 0.85]

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  Oil consumption by diesel engines is estimated by equation:

Where, Qi is oil consumption (L/h); and Pr is rated engine

power (kW).

Costs of Repair and Maintenance

 Repair and maintenance costs vary with the size and
complexity of the machine. Accumulated repair and
maintenance costs can be estimated by:

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 Where, Crm is accumulated repair and maintenance costs ($); t is
accumulated use of machine (h); and RF1 and RF2 are repair factors
from tables.

Timeliness Costs
Economic penalties are incurred if the field operations are not
performed during the optimum time of the year. Thus, it is
economically justifiable to increase machine costs through purchase
of a machine of greater capacity so that timeliness can be achieved.

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Timeliness costs can be calculated thus:

Where, Ct is timeliness cost ($/ha); Kτ is timeliness coefficient, fraction of

annual crop value lost per year; A is crop area (ha/yr); Y is crop yield
(Mg/yr); V is crop value ($/Mg); T is expected time available for field work
(h/day); Ca is effective field capacity of machine (ha/h); Pwd is the probability
of a good working day (decimal); and λo = 2 if operation starts or ends at the
optimum time, 4 if operation can be balanced evenly about the optimum
time.

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3.3 Machine Selection
 The goal of machine selection is to determine the optimum field
capacity for maximum profit.

 The field capacity giving least total cost for an individual machine can
be determined by differentiating the total costs function with respect to
field capacity. Thus,

Where, Coapt is optimum effective field capacity (ha/h); Lc is labour

cost ($/h); Kp is the unit price function ($h/ha) and Tfc is specific
ownership costs of tractor ($/h).

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3.3 Machine Selection
 The specific ownership cost of tractor is given by:

Where, Coat is annual ownership cost of tractor ($/yr); and τA

is total annual use of tractor (ha/yr). The unit price function
is calculated with the equation:

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3.3 Machine Selection
Where, v is travel speed (km/h); ɳf is field efficiency (decimal); and Pw is
price per unit of increased width ($/m).

After scheduling the time when each farm operation is performed, the
required field capacity can be calculated thus,

Where, Ca is effective field capacity required to complete the work (ha/h); A

is area to be worked (ha); τad available time to complete the work (days); pwd
is probability of a good working day (decimal).

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 Exercise 3-3
The purchase price of a self-propelled combine is US $150,000,
and has an expected economic life of 10yr with a salvage value of
10% of the purchase price. At the time of purchase, the prevailing
interest rate is 10 %, while the general inflation rate is 8 %. The
combine is used at an average of 10-hr per day and 200 hr per year to
harvest maize. The 120 kW engine produces 95 kW of power during
combining. Diesel fuel costs $0.30/L, while motor oil costs $1.05/L
and labour costs are $6.00 per hour.
(a) Calculate the total operating costs per hectare excluding timeliness costs;
the timeliness penalty costs, and the total costs per hectare. From the
tables, RF1 is 0.08, RF2 is 2.1, Kτ is 0.003; pwd is 0.65 at 90%
probability level.
(b) Determine the optimum capacity for harvesting maize assuming the unit
price function is $20,000 per hectare per hour for the combine.

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3.3 Machine Selection
At the end of their economic life, machines must be
replaced when:

The machine is badly damaged or obsolete;

The anticipated frequency of breakdowns becomes so

high that the machine is no longer reliable; and

The anticipated costs of repair will begin to increase the

average unit accumulated cost above minimum.

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 END OF LECTURE

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