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

latimes.com

61–70 of 178 posts

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

#61
post #10

They could also, which is notably mentioned no where in the article, pay more? In a market driven economy...which companies want...employees have market power as well when their is a shortage.

Or just import more from Mexico and have Californians concentrate on the higher value jobs.

[deleted]

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

#62
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Picking fruit and vegetables has always been peasant and serf work. The market has never once said, 'you should be paid more,' because there always is an underclass and even if you paid triple what you pay now it'd be the same class of people working the job. The problem is every American thinks he's too good to be at the bottom of the barrel these days.

The underclass is economically coerced. People with options aren't rejecting it because of status, but because it is extremely unpleasant work.

It ruins your health. Backpain and sunburn skincancer.

Is money worth being unable to use it except for painkillers.

Src:Done that, had that-this is only a option for people without choices.

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

#63
Does anyone know of any groups or hacker like groups working on these types of problems? I own a small farm and for the life of me I cant find workers even at $25/hr. I have so far bought several tractors and implements and I am planning to semi-automate as much as possible. But that is not ready this year and I am basically by myself with a shovel... I would like to fully automate as much as possible, and I have zero skills in this area. To increase my chance of success I have bought several machines, such as 3d printers, a lathe, a milling machine, plasma cutter, welders (MIG and arc), and other tools, and I am building a shop right now. I have also worked with Ardunio, raspberry pi, ... basically I am going all out and want to go all the way to success. There are several machines I would like to build that I would like powered by the tractor´s PTO and hydraulic. The most important machine would be a planter that would plant solo-cup sized plant starts, and lay down drip irrigation. If I can build or buy that, that would save a lot of my time.

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

#64
post #9

Or they could, you know, offer higher wages.

Picking fruit and vegetables has always been peasant and serf work. The market has never once said, 'you should be paid more,' because there always is an underclass and even if you paid triple what you pay now it'd be the same class of people working the job. The problem is every American thinks he's too good to be at the bottom of the barrel these days.

That is just another factor of the desirability of the job that impacts how much one needs to pay to find enough employees. Other factors also involve where the jobs are located (if you are in the middle of nowhere, even with much cheaper costs of living, you may need to pay significantly more to convince someone with the desired skills to move to the middle of nowhere) and the long term potential (really good work that only lasts for a short time may not be worth moving for unless it pays significantly more).

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

#65
post #58
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I don't have any experience in the commercial farming space, but since we're talking about strawberry picking here, aren't they picked far before the time that they're ripe, and ripened after using ethylene? (This is the main reason strawberries don't taste as good as they used to)

That is entirely owing to the time between the farm and the customer's mouth, not the time it takes to pick. There's still a small window where the fruit is grown enough to be edible (and a desirable size) but not so ripe that it is overripe by the time you buy it.

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

#66
post #58
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I don't have any experience in the commercial farming space, but since we're talking about strawberry picking here, aren't they picked far before the time that they're ripe, and ripened after using ethylene? (This is the main reason strawberries don't taste as good as they used to)

Everything is picked before it's ripe otherwise you could only ship something like a day away. Most vegetables and fruits don't really need to ripen on the plant. But there is a fine line.

I picked some peppers from my garden yesterday. A few are not as ripe as I want so I put them into a bag with a banana. Bananas produce more ethylene and by tomorrow all peppers should be red. No taste impact.

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

#67
post #10

They could also, which is notably mentioned no where in the article, pay more? In a market driven economy...which companies want...employees have market power as well when their is a shortage.

Seems like society is doing everything it can to keep this trend going: http://i.imgur.com/Uc6kX8G.jpg

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

#68
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…

As has been confirmed in 95% of previous land reform efforts, farming is not "profiteering". When you take productive land from its owners and give it to the politically connected, you're left with unproductive land.

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

#69
post #52
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…

It's a cost vs. speed trade off, if a machine can do the work of 2 people or 20 people is not the important bit. The important bit is if they can get more work done at lower costs. So, something that get's 1/4 as much work as a person done, but works unattended and only costs 1,000$ then that's a great investment.

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

#70
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Picking fruit and vegetables has always been peasant and serf work. The market has never once said, 'you should be paid more,' because there always is an underclass and even if you paid triple what you pay now it'd be the same class of people working the job. The problem is every American thinks he's too good to be at the bottom of the barrel these days.

If it's a comparison between getting crap pay at McDonalds and getting crap pay in the hot sun all day, then there is no comparison.

I'd rather pick fruit for minimum wage than operate an industrial dishwasher for minimum wage. It won't be 90-something degrees and 90-something percent humidity every day on the farm. It's a toss-up which is worse, the dish-room or the grill.

The worst case is about the same. The average day is better picking fruit.

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