Social, Economic, Environmental and Ethical impacts

The invention had many different impacts at that time and many of them are still relevant today. The innovation made people lose their jobs; this is still visible in present day. The yield of the crops was much higher with the seed drill, resulting in lower food prices. This meant that some of the poorer farmers were now also able to buy food. The seed drill had an effect on the environment. It increased the rate at which seeds were planted, meaning a farmer could plant seeds in a larger area but over the same time. This resulted in more trees being cut down to create farm land, thus damaging the environment. There is a debate about the ethical consequences. For the positive side, this innovation provides more food for people but for the negative side it decreased job opportunities in the agricultural industry.