Small, cheap gasoline-powered mechanical threshers are increasingly used in many regions. Once the harvest is over, the never-ending work of repairing and levelling the paddy terraces begins all over again. Modern methods of growing rice are entirely different from the painstaking and laborious methods demanded by paddy fields. In Australia, massive rice farms are mechanically levelled with the aid of laser beams. This offers accurate irrigation control and minimises water use.
Machines divide the land into separate bays, protected by banks of soil.
Rice seeds are then sown onto the flooded fields using aircraft, or they are planted into dry soil by tractor drawn machinery and then watered. Similarly, harvesting is carried out with machines, called combine s, which in the case of rice are built to move through mud. Computerised rice milling plants use the latest technology to mill the rice. Rice can be milled to produce different characteristics. For more information, click here.