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As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

latimes.com

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Re: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

#141

Post by delbel »

noonespecial wrote: post #108
delbel wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually have a backhoe, but the diesel injector pump is broken. Its a rosa master rotary injection pump. They go for $800 on ebay rebuilt. Project for the winter in my new shop. Thanks for your advice on the water injector. Do you have any design for injecting the water into the air line? How much water like in GPM or CFS per PSI?

I spent a summer as "that guy who digs with the compressor" on a maintenance crew at a summer camp. I discovered it when I accidebtly blew a hole in an asphalt parking lot trying to use the compressor to clear sand. Compressor was a little 50hp Rand diesel tow behind. 120psi 180cfm. In soft soil no water is even needed. A little water (like 2-5 gpm makes everything nicer). I started by making a little brass siphon fi…

Well you might be on to something. An air compressor with a venturi device, which is a simple device. I have a few for gold dredging and another one a fertilizer mixer. One could be made fairly easy with a pipe bender, welder, and fittings could be made on a lathe. However, a 50 HP air compressor is huge. I don't know much about air compressors besides my pancake compressor (barely runs my CUT50 plasma cutter), but 50 HP is tremendous. A lathe I am looking at to buy runs on 30 amps 220, and its only 5hp. 50 HP would be 50 *750 37,500 or 37kw.. or 170 amps at 220v if my math is correct! However, one of my tractor has 19 HP PTO at 540 rpm (Ford 2N) and another tractor of mine (Ford 4000) has a 50 HP PTO that could power a air compressor that size. So yeah that could be powered by one of my tractors and fit on a 3 point hitch. I like your idea and will look for a large air compressor motor somewhere to see if I can retro fit it to a PTO and build a venturi to try your idea out.

Re: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

#142

Post by noonespecial »

delbel wrote: post #141
noonespecial wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent a summer as "that guy who digs with the compressor" on a maintenance crew at a summer camp. I discovered it when I accidebtly blew a hole in an asphalt parking lot trying to use the compressor to clear sand. Compressor was a little 50hp Rand diesel tow behind. 120psi 180cfm. In soft soil no water is even needed. A little water (like 2-5 gpm makes everything nicer). I started by making a little brass siphon fi…

Well you might be on to something. An air compressor with a venturi device, which is a simple device. I have a few for gold dredging and another one a fertilizer mixer. One could be made fairly easy with a pipe bender, welder, and fittings could be made on a lathe. However, a 50 HP air compressor is huge. I don't know much about air compressors besides my pancake compressor (barely runs my CUT50 plasma cutter), but 5…

The one I used was a little diesel powered thing that the camp bought for $1900 (used) to run a jack-hammer. (Ended up cheaper than renting) then it just sat around until I had the bright idea of blowing off the parking lots with it.

It looked like a tiny little trailer that you pulled behind a jeep or something. It ran all day on a few gallons of diesel.

Re: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

#143

Post by tormeh »

SomeStupidPoint wrote: post #133
randyrand wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relative to what? Humans have been farming for thousands of years under worse condition and worse pay, yet humans still did it. In fact, even more humans used to do it. So awful pay and conditions are not a showstopper.

Do you have citations most farming (historically) was done for worse pay under worse conditions?

Before the industrial revolution, most people worked in agriculture. If you look at life expectancy in those ages it's pretty grim. Usually no one would live to be 45.

I can't vouch for the following, but it seems like something a reasonable person would write: http://www.sarahwoodbury.com/life-expectancy-in-the-middle-a...

Re: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

#144

Post by hinkley »

evgen wrote: post #52
Retric wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speed is significantly less important than your suggesting. The hard parts are not damaging the crop and most importantly not doing the wrong thing.

I would have to disagree on that point; speed is vitally important for equipment like this. Speed and accuracy determine how many of these machines you would need during the short window of peak ripeness. Speed determines how long it will take to get a return (if any) on the capital investment required for the machine. There is a reason that agricultural equipment is so large and most of it has to do with the short w…

The internet is telling me that there are 17,424 feet of rows in an acre of plants if the rows are 30 inches apart (eg, corn).

The internet also tells me that the average California farm is about 400 acres (a little less than 2/3 of a square mile).

400 * 17424 ~= 7 million feet of row. Million. That's 1320 miles if you want to walk or ride the whole thing one row at a time. I think you're right about speed mattering a great deal.

Re: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

#145

Post by noonespecial »

HillaryBriss wrote: post #130
noonespecial wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't magic you up any workers but here's a hint: You'd be astonished at how quickly and accurately a large air compressor with a small amount of water added to the flow can dig a shallow trench or small hole.

e.g. trenching on a hillside using compressed air: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur8nbEJxXD8

Wow. Just goes to show: No matter how novel you think your great idea is, someone else has probably though of it too.

Re: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

#146

Post by 1024core »

> Stated bluntly, there aren’t enough new immigrants for the state’s nearly half-million farm labor jobs

That's why we need a "farmworker" visa system, which lets workers come when required and go back as needed. Millions of people work on such visas all over the world; I don't see why it won't work in the US.

Re: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

#147

Post by [deleted] »

1024core wrote: post #146

> Stated bluntly, there aren’t enough new immigrants for the state’s nearly half-million farm labor jobs That's why we need a "farmworker" visa system, which lets workers come when required and go back as needed. Millions of people work on such visas all over the world; I don't see why it won't work in the US.

[deleted]

Re: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

#148

Post by rfrank »

criddell wrote: post #115
rgbrenner wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but farm workers only work part of the year, and only work on each farm for a few weeks.. then move onto another farm. So having 1 farm paying $25/hr, does not change much for the worker.. after they finish at that farm, they'll need to go to another that's paying near minimum wage (the average for a farm worker).. and the result is that they are still in poverty (the average farm worker lives below the poverty…

Exactly right. This work needs to be entirely automated.

Okay, what's your proposition for the displaced workers?

Re: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

#149

Post by sanderjd »

wtvanhest wrote: post #38
frabbit wrote: post #37

That’s because immigrant farmworkers in California’s agricultural heartlands are getting older and not being replaced. As others have mentioned it's all to do with the wages that the fruit growers are willing to pay, and Driscoll's (mentioned in the article) have been at the center of controversy about their wages for some time for their practices in Mexico and elsewhere: https://boycott-driscolls.org/ The Union of I…

If you believe this, you just need to buy ag land at today's prices and sell once your hypothesis plays out.

I can't "just" buy land. Not many people can.

Re: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers replace workers with robots

#150

Post by InitialLastName »

rjsw wrote: post #123
rgbrenner wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but farm workers only work part of the year, and only work on each farm for a few weeks.. then move onto another farm. So having 1 farm paying $25/hr, does not change much for the worker.. after they finish at that farm, they'll need to go to another that's paying near minimum wage (the average for a farm worker).. and the result is that they are still in poverty (the average farm worker lives below the poverty…

This basically requires the worker to be either homeless or that they can leave a house somewhere else empty while they are working on a farm. How does welfare in the US cover housing costs ?

That's a funny joke you just told.
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