Sail Plow

For millenia farmers have pulled their plows/ploughs with beasts of burden. The trouble with that is the animals have to be fed, housed and generally cared for whether or not there are any fields to be plowed at the moment. They are also well known for emitting copious quanitites of greenhouse gases.

A few decades ago mechanized tractors took up the load but they are expensive, require fuel and also emit noxious gases. They would still be the best option for large corporate farms of the First World but aren't necessarily affordable by smaller scale or subsistence farmers.

The Sail Plow (insert catchy name here) contraption would consist of an array of computer controlled kite sails (See Kite Tug Link) which may or may not be filled with helium. The sails would connect to the humble plow and flown via servos and inexpensive computing power. Some oversize wheels with controllable camber will aid steering. Get the computer controls meshed with GPS correctly and the farmer can let the thing run by itself as long as the wind blows - even at night.

The Sail Plow electronics, servos and the kite sails will all cost money but not as much as a humble tractor or team of oxen. Who knows, it might even scale up to the Corporate Farms - especially those who like to tout their green image.