Historically the landscape in Heartlands was agricultural, the ridge and furrow caused by a medieval ploughing system are still present today. Ridge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges and troughs created by farmers in the Middle Ages. The farmers would sew crops into long narrow strips of land that were shaped by the plough into curved ridges. The furrow is the bit that looks like a trench cut in the soil; made to carry water to irrigate the crops. The crops were usually grown on the ridge, the curved upper side. Can you imagine how hard farmers must have worked back in medieval times? Even with the help of heavy machinery like ploughs, life must have been tough!
The huge amount of work and the need to perform a vast number of routine tasks to get a result have led to the fact that farming has become one of the most promising industries for robotisation? Robotic farming is on the rise; autonomous robots are being used to help weed, fertilise and harvest crops. Some say it will revolutionise the agriculture industry.
Many old industrial heritage sites are now being preserved to protect our history and to help create environmentally friendly wildlife corridors. It is important to protect heritage for cultural, social and educational benefits. Heritage is our legacy, without knowing and understanding the past, we can’t learn and pass on this knowledge to future generations.
Just for fun: What do you get when you cross a robot with a farmer? A trans-farmer!