Agriculture is certainly an example of industry where advances in technology have had tremendous impacts. Our historical society has equipment and displays showcasing technology that would have been revolutionary at its time, but now seems rudimentary compared to the GPS tractors of today. From planters to rakes to seed drills, our agricultural artifacts capture the ingenuity and hard-work of agriculturists.

One such artifact is the fanning mill. This piece of equipment separated out chaff, dirt, debris, immature seeds, etc. from the actual desired grain, such as wheat, oats, rye, and barley. This process was done much faster and more effectively with the fanning mill, as before it was done through hand-winnowing, which was pouring grain from one container to another in a breeze to blow away the lighter matter.

Now this process is done even faster and yet more effectively, with the use of a combine. Combines do the three processes of reaping, threshing, and winnowing, which all used to be done separately and by hand.