A web-based decision support system to select proper machinery size and tractor power

One of the most important key factors for efficient and profitable agricultural production is agricultural mechanization. Since agricultural mechanization system expenses are nearly 30% of an agricultural enterprise investment, the mechanization system should be planned very carefully. Since internet technologies have spread into all areas, including agriculture, a web-based decision support system (DSS) was developed to plan an agricultural machinery system to be used in Turkey’s farm enterprises. The developed DSS was written in PHP and the databases were created using the MySQL database administration system. Several tables to select proper machine size and tractor power, including tractor test report data, technical data of the machines produced in Turkey, field work days for Turkey’s climatic conditions, and typical working speed and efficiencies of the machines, were included in the databases. For the areas over 10 ha surveys were done for collecting data according to main production and machinery commonly used. Average daily working time data were also estimated. By conducting simulations using the developed DSS based on the survey data, for the machines that are used for producing the most common products in the Adana region, machinery fleets were created and tractor power sizes were selected. According to the results, for farms smaller than 40 ha, one tractor of less than 157 kW would be sufficient, and for the areas that are over 40 ha, two or three tractors would be sufficient to complete the agricultural activities in an effective amount of time. © TÜBİTAK.University of Delaware Research Foundation: FDK-2014-1920This study was financially funded by the ?ukurova University Research Foundation (Project No. FDK-2014-1920)