VIDALIA — Farming has come a long way from handheld tools and small farms, to multi-million dollar operations with equipment that looks like it came straight from outer space.

One of these machines, the John Deere 7760 Cotton Picker, is making life a lot easier for cotton farmers who own one, and Friday morning area farmers were given an opportunity to see the machine in action at Frogmore Plantation.

“This machine will optimize operations and make everything more efficient,” Goldman Equipment Company Store Manager Neal Condrey said.

Condrey led the demonstration for area farmers on the new cotton picker and said the biggest feature on the $600,000 machine is non-stop farming.

“You can get three bales of cotton, going 5 mph without having to stop,” he said. “When it’s ready to drop cotton, you push a button, it drops out the cotton, and you are still picking.”

Condrey said the 7760 picks the cotton while it is moving and forms it into a round module that is wrapped three times with a plastic covering.

“The first wrap prevents staining and contamination,” he said. “The last two layers of plastic wrap keep the cotton dry and ready to pick up.”

Condrey said the round module shape has several advantages over square modules.

“The water runs off of it because of the shape and it is not allowed to soak into the cotton,” he said. “You can also leave it on the ground for longer because it is covered. It won’t soak up moisture from the ground. ”

Condrey said each module contains three to four bales of cotton.

“The modules are always very consistently on the same level,” he said. “There are radio frequency identification tags on each module after they are dropped that show where a portion of the wrap needs to be cut to keep the levels close.”

Condrey said the 500 horsepower machine is very user friendly, as many of the features are monitored and controlled by computers.

“As you pick and the cotton comes in, there are sensors that are determining your yield of cotton,” he said. “There is not much you have to do on the inside of the cab.”

The 63,000-pound machine even has enough fuel and water to last an entire 12-hour work day, Condrey said.

“(Creating) 350 bales a day are possible on this machine,” he said. “These weather much better and there is no cotton laying around. There are a lot of benefits to this machine and you don’t sacrifice quality.”

Condrey said the 7760 has made harvest a lot easier for farmers, and things will only continue to improve.

“This machine gets rid of people and allows you to farm with just one man,” he said. “It changes the game.”