It's called the "Minimum Wage."
I suspect it is easier to pick apples than to properly fill out all the forms, calculate the taxes and payments to the various federal agencys and also make payroll for someone to pick apples.
Me thinks the heavy hand of the Fed is a large part of the problem as it is in all business these days.
Once there was a man, a tree and an apple. Now there is a man, a tree and 100 bean counters demanding taxes to count and document the apples, the men and the trees. Soon they will cut down the tree to make paper for the documentation.
Then there will be no men or apples.