Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food,[1] especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting ofgrain orpulses for harvest, typically using ascythe,sickle, orreaper.[2] On smaller farms with minimalmechanization, harvesting is the mostlabor-intensive activity of the growing season. On large mechanized farms, harvesting usesfarm machinery, such as thecombine harvester. Automation has increased the efficiency of both the seeding and harvesting processes. Specialized harvesting equipment, usingconveyor belts for gentle gripping and mass transport, replaces the manual task of removing eachseedling by hand.[3] The term "harvesting" in general usage may include immediatepostharvest handling, including cleaning, sorting, packing, and cooling.
The completion of harvesting marks the end of the growing season, or the growing cycle for a particular crop, and the social importance of this event makes it the focus of seasonal celebrations such asharvest festivals, found in many cultures and religions.[4]
"Harvest", a noun, came from theOld English wordhærf-est (coined before the Angles moved fromAngeln to Britain)[5] meaning "autumn" (the season), "harvest-time", or "August". (It continues to mean "autumn" in British dialect, and "season of gathering crops" generally.) "The harvest" came to also mean the activity of reaping, gathering, and storing grain and other grown products during the autumn season, and also the grain and other grown products themselves. "Harvest" was alsoverbified: "Toharvest" means to reap, gather, and store the harvest (or the crop). People who harvest and equipment that harvests are harvesters; while they do it, they are harvesting.
Crop failure (also known as harvest failure) is an absent or greatly diminishedcrop yield relative to expectation, caused by the plants being damaged, killed, or destroyed, or affected in some way that they fail to form edible fruit, seeds, or leaves in their expected abundance.[6]
Some people use their own animals for harvesting their crops
Harvesting commonly refers tograin and produce, but also has other uses:fishing andlogging are also referred to as harvesting. The term harvest is also used in reference toharvesting grapes forwine.Wild harvesting refers to the collection of plants and other edible supplies which have not been cultivated.[7] Within the context ofirrigation,water harvesting refers to the collection and run-off of rainwater for agricultural or domestic uses. Instead ofharvest, the termexploit is also used, as in exploiting fisheries or water resources.Energy harvesting is the process of capturing and storingenergy (such assolar power, thermal energy,wind energy, salinity gradients, andkinetic energy) that would otherwise go unexploited.Body harvesting, orcadaver harvesting, is the process of collecting and preparing cadavers foranatomical study. In a similar sense,organ harvesting is the removal of tissues or organs from a donor for purposes of transplanting.
In a non-agricultural sense, the word "harvesting" is an economic principle which is known as an exit event orliquidity event. For example, if a person or business was to cash out of an ownership position in a company or eliminate their investment in a product, it is known as a harvest strategy.[8]
Harvesting orDomestic Harvesting in Canada refers to hunting, fishing, and plant gathering byFirst Nations,Métis, andInuit in discussions ofaboriginal or treaty rights. For example, in theGwich'inComprehensive Land Claim Agreement, "Harvesting means gathering, hunting, trapping or fishing...".[9] Similarly, in theTlicho Land Claim and Self Government Agreement,"'Harvesting' means, in relation to wildlife, hunting, trapping or fishing and, in relation to plants or trees, gathering or cutting."[10]
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