Posted on 06/28/2013 7:11:13 AM PDT by KeyLargo
Wall-E-Like Farming Robots Could Replace Undocumented Workers and Save the US Billions
Despite advancements in mechanization within US agriculture, some menial jobs are still best left to human workers. Problem is, federal crackdowns on undocumented laborers have decimated that workforce. The Harvester automaton could provide a cheap, readily available labor force without the threat of raids by the INS.
The US agriculture industry is worth about $300 billion annually—half from livestock production, the other half from crops. However, some of the most basic jobs in this industry still have to be performed by people. Jobs like offloading potted plants from trucks, arranging them in rows for the growing season, then loading them back onto a truck when they're ready for sale. That may not sound very difficult, but when performed on an industrial scale, it becomes a mammoth task requiring a huge workforce of low-productivity manual laborers—today largely comprising undocumented migrant workers. However, some analysts estimate that, by automating these sorts of tasks, a firm's revenue per employee could be increased from $40K per employee vs. $175K per employee—an annual labor savings of $21 billion. "We've recognized the need for robotics in the nursery industry for moving pots because it's one of our highest concentrations of labor use," said Tom Demaline, president of Willoway Nurseries, Inc. in Avon, Ohio.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
Maine potatoes used to be picked by school aged kids. The schools would shut down for a couple of weeks and the kids would harvest the potatoes.
Rush Limbaugh: ‘Wait Until the Republican Party Hears About This’
Jun. 28, 2013 10:00pm Jason Howerton
A caller from Lubbock, Texas, on Friday told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh that some illegal immigrants in his area don’t want amnesty because it means federal income tax and fiercer competition for cheap labor.
“Today I went out and was doing some ag’ work on some of the farms out here and got to talking to some of these guys, asking them about what they think about this. And they’re very, very concerned,” the caller said. “A lot of them were telling me, ‘Well, we really don’t want to become United States citizens.’”
He went on: “There’s two things that they brought up that really scared me. They do not want to become United States citizens. I said, ‘Why not?’ They’re afraid that the United States government is going to take so much taxes out of their paychecks once they have to pay into the federal income tax.”
“Are you kidding me on this?” Limbaugh replied.
“I am dead serious. They do not want to become American citizens,” the caller said.
The Texas caller said the illegal immigrants are also concerned that immigration reform will lead to a surge of immigrants, forcing them to “compete against cheaper labor.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Limbaugh reacted. “This is the theater of the absurd. So we have illegals worried that more of them will cause wages to fall and maybe jobs to be lost?”
“Correct. Now these guys are very, very concerned about this,” the caller said.
Scare the bleep out of them. Tell them that they are going to be forced to become American citizens and they will be drafted and sent to the Middle East. HeeHeeHee.
It worked. But now it would be a paperwork nightmare.
It is easier to hire adults. Better still just rent a machine to do the harvest.
Another good thing about using local kids to pick potatoes was that not only did the kids get to earn some money of their own but that money stayed in the community. It didn’t go to Mexico.
No doubt out sneaky little friends the Democrats figured some way to make it difficult to hire American kids. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a grand plan to get Mexican farm labor all over America.
There is a limit to how much they can work, where they can work, when they can work and what they can work with.
It is why most places do not hire anyone under 18. It is just a pain to deal with the paperwork.
Thanks KeyLargo. It’s that, or everyone can go back to growing their own food — or the US can just import *everything*. That’s the four options.
I believe the Civil War South was backwards BECAUSE they had cheap slave labor... the North had to invent. In the short run cheap labor's a plus - in the long run it's a narcotic that kills innovation.
Those blue collar jobs for picking/processing produce would be upgraded. Obviously not on a one-to-one ratio, but would ultimately be better paying for those with skills/desire to operate machinery. The former would have to find something else to do, and if illegal, hopefully leave the country.
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