Agricultural machinery: jargon-buster

Aerator
For maintaining turf, manual or mechanical aerators are essential pieces of agricultural machinery that pierce holes deep into the soil with long tines, allowing air, fertiliser and water to reach far down.

ATV
All-terrain vehicles (ATVs), essentially four-wheeled off-road motorbikes with nobbly balloon tyres, have become essential agricultural machinery. ATV buggies look like golf carts with a carrier behind the bench seat.

Baler
Round balers, chamber balers and square balers are agricultural equipment for harvesting hay, silage and straw. Some have features such as hydraulically driven blowers for keeping the knotters free from residue and debris.

Combine harvester
One of the most well known pieces of agricultural machinery is the combine harvester, which both reaps and threshes the crop.

Cultivator
This is a broad class of agricultural machinery that includes ploughs, harrows and drills.

GPS
One of the most modern pieces of agricultural machinery is the growing range of GPS systems to help improve crop yields by better understanding the soil conditions of each plot.

Mini digger
Armed with various size buckets and rubber or metal tracks, these pieces of agricultural machinery are typically about 1 m (3.3 ft) wide. Micro diggers are even smaller, at about 750 mm (30 in) wide, narrow enough to get to rear gardens through front doors.

Plough
Ploughs are arguably the oldest pieces of agricultural machinery in the UK, dating back some 6,000 years. They come in many shapes and sizes, but generally all dig around 25 cm (10 in) deep.

Rotovator (or rotavator)
These electric or petrol-powered pieces of agricultural machinery have curved tines that loosen heavy soil and kill weeds in preparation for sowing, normally used in the autumn. Some manufacturers describe them as cultivators.

Seed drill
One of the most commonly used bits of agricultural machinery is the seed drill, which comes in all shapes, sizes and configurations, such as conventional till seed drills, no-till drills, precision seeders, and combines with harrows.

Shredder
If you're looking for a shredder in the agricultural machinery section, make sure beforehand you know what type you need because there are many types: horizontal axis shredder, vertical axis shredder, verge mower, hedge mower, forestry mower and wood shredder.

Spreader
A highly multifunctional piece of agricultural machinery, it's used for applying fertilisers, manure, feed, grass seed and top dressings, as well as salt and grit for de-icing surfaces in the winter.

Tedder
This sort of agricultural machinery has rotors that disperse cut hay, alfalfa and other types of forage to help it dry and cure faster before being turned into bales.

Trailers
Trailers are essential players on the agricultural machinery landscape, and come in many different forms, such as cereal tipping trailer, tipping trailer, platform trailer, livestock trailer and self-loading wagon.

Walking tractor
This is a two-wheeled motorised version that's steered and controlled via large handlebars and capable of powering a vast range of accessories, from ploughs and tillers to seed drills, potato diggers and even hay balers—some even have two wheels and a seat.