The combine harvester, which now brings in the harvest at huge scale across the world, amazingly has its origins right here at South Powrie, where its first iteration was trialled.
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The combine harvester is so called as it combines three harvesting jobs that were traditionally done separately and originally by hand - cutting and collecting the crop (reaping), threshing to separate out the edible grains and cleaning these of any husks or other unneeded elements.
It was a church minister in Angus in the 1820s, Reverend Patrick Bell, who invented the first reaper. With scissor-like blades, it was pushed by horses, automating the cutting process and replacing scythes. It was trialled here on the farm at South Powrie on 10th September 1828 - almost 196 years ago to the day! - and, built in a carpenter's workshop in Tealing, was the beginnings of what is now the combine harvester.
The concept was developed and commercialised in America, and patented in the 1830s by McCormick which is still a familiar name in the machinery world. Reverend Bell had invented the reaper out of good will to help improve food production, and he never patented it.
It's amazing to think that the very first origins of all those combine harvesters across the world, that have become such technical, precise and essential machines, have roots here on the farm!
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