The basic technology of agricultural machines has changed little through the last century. Though modern harvesters and planters may do a better job than their predecessors, the combine of today  about cuts, threshes, and separates grain in essentially the same way earlier versions had done. However, technology is changing the way that humans operate the machines, as computer monitoring systems, GPS locators, and self-steer programs allow the most advanced tractors and implements to be more precise and less wasteful in the use of fuel, seed, or fertilizer. In the foreseeable future, some agricultural machines may be made capable of driving themselves, using GPS maps and electronic sensors. Even more esoteric are the new areas of nanotechnology and genetic engineering, where submicroscopic devices and biological processes, respectively, may be used to perform agricultural tasks in unusual new ways.

Agriculture may be one of the oldest pr