Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Can U.S. Farm Workers Be Replaced by Machines?
Center for Immigration Studies ^ | 22 February 2024 | Philip Martin

Posted on 02/28/2024 9:25:24 PM PST by zeestephen

Philip Martin is Professor Emeritus of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California at Davis...Long essay, but should be of interest to anyone in the food business, and of interest to any general readers who wonder how dinner gets to the dinner table.

(Excerpt) Read more at cis.org ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: ageconomics; agriculture; braceros; farmers; farmworkers; fwma; h2a; irca
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-91 next last
To: zeestephen

Amazon just introduced 6’ high robots into their warehouses. Has the warehouse staff on pins and needles, fearing they will lose their jobs. Before anyone goes there, the return on investment needs to be there.


41 posted on 02/29/2024 3:38:41 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Trump/Jennifer-Ruth Green in 24)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: zeestephen

It’s been happening since the invention of the wheel. And with AI, it’s happening significantly faster.


42 posted on 02/29/2024 3:44:52 AM PST by RoosterRedux (A person who seeks the truth with a closed mind will never find it. He will only confirm his bias.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz

“It is best never to have been born. But who among us is so lucky? One in a million, perhaps.”

(I saw that in an H. Allen Smith book once, attributed to one Alfred C. Polgar.)


43 posted on 02/29/2024 5:01:55 AM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: zeestephen

Fifty years ago, or thenabouts, Food Machinery Corporation came up with a machine to harvest tomatoes. Then there were shakers for tree crops. Then there was plant genetics and experts who developed crops that could be harvested during a short time span. And so, change will continue to occur.


44 posted on 02/29/2024 5:41:08 AM PST by Bookshelf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: zeestephen

For the most part, machines HAVE eliminated farm work.


45 posted on 02/29/2024 6:10:09 AM PST by Blue Collar Christian (I'm a nationalist. I'm white. How does that make me racist?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ProtectOurFreedom

So what are all the unskilled people going to do?

You know what they say about ‘idle hands’.


46 posted on 02/29/2024 6:11:14 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz
Probably.

When we started our stand we sold our primes for a quarter. That was about ten years ago.

You could get a three pound bag at the store on sale for 99 cents.

Now on sale never dips below $2.99

47 posted on 02/29/2024 6:17:44 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz

Ok Laz, Sit down, have a cup of hot cider and hold a puppy. You will feel better. Careful of your pants, the puppy is not totally trained yet.


48 posted on 02/29/2024 6:22:52 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

That’s always been the concern, hasn’t it? We’ve heard…

* Military
* Guaranteed minimum income

But there aren’t any good answers.


49 posted on 02/29/2024 6:31:05 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (“Occupy your mind with good thoughts or your enemy will fill them with bad ones.” ~ Thomas More)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz

You use your...keyboard...purdier than a twenty dollar...


50 posted on 02/29/2024 6:31:56 AM PST by Blue Collar Christian (I'm a nationalist. I'm white. How does that make me racist?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: zeestephen

A lot of them already have been. There’s still a few things it’s challenging to harvest by machine, but that list keeps shrinking.


51 posted on 02/29/2024 6:32:51 AM PST by discostu (like a dog being shown a card trick)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz

In other words, “Life sucks, then you die!”


52 posted on 02/29/2024 6:33:24 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: zeestephen

The reason why American agriculture can provide food in abundance is due to mechanization. I grew up in a small town in a rural state and saw first hand how mechanized agriculture has progressed. Even in the 1940s a few farmers were still using horse drawn equipment. By the 1950s horse agriculture was gone replaced by three wheel open tractors pulling plows, planters, cultivators and attached corn pickers. By the 1960s tractors got bigger and pulled bigger equipment. By the 1970s tractors were bigger still and self contained combines harvested the grain. By the 1990s tractors became behemoths pulling huge equipment and combines became bigger and more efficient. 21st century agricultural equipment is huge and employs sophisticated technology to even more efficiently plant and harvest crops. A single farmer can produce more than his father or grandfather ever imagined and do so from an air conditioned cab. While there are still crops that require hand labor mechanization will soon replace field hands for those crops too.


53 posted on 02/29/2024 6:39:18 AM PST by The Great RJ ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: srmanuel; metmom; Harmless Teddy Bear

They use dwarf trees so there wouldnt be much energy even if it fell to the ground but that doesnt happen either.

The shaker puts a trampoline around the tree at the top of the bare part of the trunk where the branches start.

The apples only go a foot or three and since its a dwarf there arent many branches up above to drop higher apples down on to the ones already on the trampoline dropped from below.

Ive seen something similar used on hazelnuts. Quite a while back I saw a vaccuum cleaner that picked walnuts off the ground but Im guessing theyve come up with something like the trampoline for those too.


54 posted on 02/29/2024 6:47:51 AM PST by gnarledmaw (Hivemind liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives select servants.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: gnarledmaw
Even with a dwarf and a trampoline you are still going to have bruises unless you breed apples that do not bruise.

And so far those kind of apples do not have a good flavor.

55 posted on 02/29/2024 6:57:25 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Yup.

It takes next to nothing of a bump to bruise an apple.


56 posted on 02/29/2024 6:59:24 AM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus…)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: metmom
And even dwarf apple trees are about eight feet tall.

Granted that is quite a bit shorter then the twenty footer old breeds we have.

We have trees so old even the Red Delicious still tastes good. :)

57 posted on 02/29/2024 7:06:38 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love being on the government watch list, along with all of you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: bigbob

Yes, the tech to farm without farmers is getting scary good. But, equipment maintenence takes people, and machinery breaks, gets stuck in mud, has to switch implements (hook/unhook hyd hoses/electric cables). So, terminator will have to be good enough to do those chores.

Crop duster pilots are probably wondering when drones will be doing their jobs.


58 posted on 02/29/2024 7:12:34 AM PST by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Harmless Teddy Bear

To some degree thats true and is a major reason why so many things taste terrible but that is the way it is at the orchards. There is very little effort put into looking for bruising because there is so little early in the season. Toward the end there are a lot more that are quite ripe and those go right to the cider room.

None of those things in the store are there because they taste good or have the most nutrients. Those were all gotten rid of for things that harvested easily and transported well yet could still be pawned off on city people that didnt know any better.

Spinach, peaches, lettuce...seriously, when was the last time that you had domestic citrus that wasnt dry and not sour if it had any flavor at all?


59 posted on 02/29/2024 7:14:38 AM PST by gnarledmaw (Hivemind liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives select servants.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: HartleyMBaldwin
“It is best never to have been born. But who among us is so lucky? One in a million, perhaps.” (I saw that in an H. Allen Smith book once, attributed to one Alfred C. Polgar.)

Hilarious! Made my day!

60 posted on 02/29/2024 7:17:53 AM PST by Lazamataz (Laz 2005: "First, we beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-91 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson