With modern transportation making national distribution of agricultural products to grocery stores easier than ever, many consumers don't recognize that farming is incredibly labor- and time-intensive because they live nowhere near actual farms. Instead, they're used to instantly purchasing prepackaged or loose items in stores and fail to recognize that farmers must perform many complicated, difficult tasks every day to guarantee the success of their crops. Many consumers actually believe that farming merely involves planting seeds and harvesting crops. The reality is a lot different. Farmers work from sunup to sundown to prepare and work the land and anticipate potential natural and man-made catastrophes that can disrupt plant growth and destroy a harvest. Given that most farmers don't even see profits unless they're capable of agricultural production on a massive scale, a small family can't perform all the tasks needed to make a farm a success unless they have a lot of manpower or tools that can complete several day's worth of work in a day. In most cases, large-scale equipment is the only thing that makes enough of a difference to keep them in business. The following describes four pieces of heavy equipment that farmers rely upon the most.

1 - Backhoes and Trenchers

Farmers use a variety of digging tools for preparing and altering the land for construction, repairing structures, planting and other farm-related projects. A backhoe makes it possible for a farmer to quickly dig, plow and carry a large volume of soil, rock and other materials. Trenchers offer a more precise, narrow solution for digging trenches that have smooth sides or walls and flat bottoms. They're often used by farmers to install utility-related items, such as pipes for drainage, gas, water or electrical lines and cables, and creating furrows for planting seeds, bulbs and seedlings. For example, a farmer might use a wheel trencher designed with sharp teeth to break up hard or rocky soil or underground tree roots. They might use a micro trencher for a small pipe installation.

2 - Skid Loaders

Although skid loaders are also often used for digging and excavating projects, including small, medium or large backhoe, tilling and trench projects, they're also used by farmers for fast lifting and relocating of soil and rock and grading inclines, especially in areas where a farmer needs a high level of maneuverability. They're even used for snow plowing and blowing. Skid loaders are compact and named for how they maneuver with a skid during a turn. Farmers can also purchase a variety of attachments to make it possible for them to turn a skid loader into a wide-swath grass mower, land clearer, wood chipper, pallet transporter, cement mixer or a wheel saw.

3 - Combines

Combines are a critical farming tool named for how they efficiently combine multiple pieces of equipment related to harvesting, including rotating cutting blades, elevators, conveyors, threshing drums, sieves and collection tanks, into one massive piece of equipment that performs reaping, threshing and winnowing tasks quickly at the same time. During usage, a combine harvester usually allows the farmer to cut and collect ripe plants, separate out the grains from the rest of the plants and then separate the husks from the grains. They're commonly used to harvest barley, corn, flax, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, soybeans, sunflowers and wheat. Some combines can clear 40 or more feet of a field with one pass.

4 - Tractors

Many people automatically associate the image of a green, red or yellow tractor in a field or near a farmhouse or barn with farming for good reasons. Tractors are considered one of the most versatile pieces of heavy equipment available for farmers to perform a wide range of chores and tasks all around their properties. Farmers use tractors primarily for pushing and pulling tasks, such pulling another piece of equipment that breaks down out of a field, dragging fields and roads and performing landscaping tasks like clearing brush and removing tree stumps. They can also purchase attachments that turn their tractors into bulldozing, digging, plowing, seeding or harvesting.