 From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report. Farming without big machines is hard work. Planting and fertilizing alone can take days in the hot sun. Researchers are working to develop simple machines to make life easier for farmers in the developing world. They would also like to help the farmers save money. Yellowvon Loon is testing a model of a handheld planting tool designed for small-scale farmers. It is a long, metal hoe with just two flat teeth. With each stroke, one tooth plants a seed, the other adds a little fertilizer. Yellowvon Loon is not a farmer. He is an engineer at the International Maze and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico. Mr. Von Loon is working to develop low-cost tools for small-scale farmers around the world. He hopes the tools will save them work, time, and money. Usually, he starts with a piece of equipment built somewhere else. An example is a hand planter from Brazil. The long wooden V-shaped tool has a piece of metal on the bottom for breaking up the soil. Opening the arms of a part shaped like the letter V loads seed and fertilizer into the metal tip. This tool is faster and costs less than planting by hand. It uses less seed and fertilizer. It can also reduce by half the time required for planting and fertilizing a two-hectare farm. The planter still costs about $200 to make. Yellowvon Loon thinks the final product will cost less. However, he says more work is needed. His team is now testing their fourth version of the planter. Mr. Von Loon says the International Maze and Wheat Improvement Center will publish plans for the tool on the internet after the group has finished its work. For VOA Learning English, I'm Alex Villareal.