Editing Cereal (section)

=== Harvesting ===

Annual cereals die when they have come to seed, and dry up. Harvesting begins once the plants and seeds are dry enough. Harvesting in mechanized agricultural systems is by [[combine harvester]], a machine which drives across the field in a single pass in which it cuts the stalks and then [[Threshing|threshes]] and [[Winnowing|winnows]] the grain.<ref name="Barr-2019"/><ref>{{cite book |title=A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering Achievements That Transformed Our Lives, Chapter 7, Agricultural Mechanization |last1=Constable |first1=George |last2=Somerville |first2=Bob |year=2003 |publisher=[[Joseph Henry Press]] |location=[[Washington, DC]] |isbn=0-309-08908-5 |url=http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2955 |access-date=30 August 2022 |archive-date=21 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521092207/http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=2955 |url-status=live }}</ref> In traditional agricultural systems, mostly in the [[Global North and Global South|Global South]], harvesting may be by hand, using tools such as [[scythe]]s and [[grain cradle]]s.<ref name="Barr-2019"/> Leftover parts of the plant can be allowed to decompose, or collected as [[straw]]; this can be used for animal bedding, mulch, and a growing medium for mushrooms.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cereal Straw |url=https://www.uky.edu/ccd/production/crop-resources/gffof/cereal-straw |publisher=University of Kentucky |access-date=9 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329052608/https://www.uky.edu/ccd/production/crop-resources/gffof/cereal-straw |archive-date=29 March 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> It is used in crafts such as building with [[cob (material)|cob]] or [[straw-bale construction]].<ref name="Walker Thomson Maskell 2020">{{cite book |last1=Walker |first1=Pete |last2=Thomson |first2=A. |last3=Maskell |first3=D. |title=Nonconventional and Vernacular Construction Materials |chapter=Straw bale construction |publisher=Elsevier |year=2020 |doi=10.1016/b978-0-08-102704-2.00009-3 |pages=189–216|isbn=978-0-08-102704-2 }}</ref>

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File:Rice-combine-harvester, Katori-city, Japan.jpg|A small-scale rice [[combine harvester]] in Japan
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