Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Farmers Mull Replacing Illegal Workers With Robots (Now we're talking!!)
AP ^ | 9/6/07 | ?

Posted on 09/06/2007 11:01:38 AM PDT by lado

LOS ANGELES — With authorities promising tighter borders, some farmers who rely on immigrant labor are eyeing an emerging generation of fruit-picking robots and high-tech tractors to do everything from pluck premium wine grapes to clean and core lettuce.

Such machines, now in various stages of development, could become essential for harvesting delicate fruits and vegetables that are still picked by hand.

"If we want to maintain our current agriculture here in California, that's where mechanization comes in," said Jack King, national affairs manager for the California Farm Bureau.

• Click here for FOXNews.com's Patents and Innovation Center.

California harvests about half the nation's fruits, nuts and vegetables, according to the state Food and Agriculture Department. The California Farm Bureau Federation estimates that the job requires about 225,000 workers year-round and double that during the peak summer season.

More than half of all farm workers in the country are illegal immigrants, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics.

Last year, amid heightened immigration enforcement, California's seasonal migration was marked by spot worker shortages, and some fruit was left to rot in the fields.

"There's a lot of very nervous people out there in agriculture in terms of what's going to be available in the labor force," said Robert Wample, viticulture and enology program director at California State University, Fresno.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: agriculture; aliens; competitivness; farming; foodsupply; illegal; illegalimmigration; immigrantlist; mexicans
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-67 next last
Make La Raza obsolete...
1 posted on 09/06/2007 11:01:39 AM PDT by lado
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: lado

“California harvests about half the nation’s fruits, nuts and vegetables, according to the state Food and Agriculture Department.”

Some days, the jokes just write themselves...


2 posted on 09/06/2007 11:06:12 AM PDT by GovernmentIsTheProblem (The GOP is "Whig"ing out.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lado
Robots - doing the jobs Americans won't.



 
3 posted on 09/06/2007 11:06:27 AM PDT by counterpunch ("The Democrats are the party of slavery." - Cindy Sheehan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lado

I believe the government should subsidize any robots and pull the funds directly from the immigrant programs.

What are the chances of my idea becoming reality ?


4 posted on 09/06/2007 11:06:31 AM PDT by Celerity
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lado
I'm not generally in favor of government subsidies, but I wonder what would happen if we took illegal aliens' medical care subsidy money and applied it to robotic R&D for the farm industry.

Just a thought.

5 posted on 09/06/2007 11:06:39 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lado
In 20 years tops I estimate 90%+ of crops will be harvested by robotic pickers.

It's gonna suck not having an education in machinery repair when they come over the border then...

6 posted on 09/06/2007 11:06:54 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Celerity

Well, there’s TWO of us...;->


7 posted on 09/06/2007 11:07:17 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: lado

Just wait until they develop a cheaper robot that can jump a fence ;)


8 posted on 09/06/2007 11:07:32 AM PDT by VirginiaConstitutionalist (Socialized medicine kills.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Celerity

If Hillary wins? A snowball’s chance in hell, thats the chances.


9 posted on 09/06/2007 11:08:14 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: VirginiaConstitutionalist

yeah, and watch the border guards going to prison for shooting them too...


10 posted on 09/06/2007 11:09:16 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: lado
The steel plow, thrashing machine, combine, tractor, etc. would have never been developed if an endless supply of dirt cheap labor had been available.

Take note that the end of slavery did not end the production of cotton, and that cotton today is untouched by human hands until it is cloth. With time it won’t be touched until it hits your back.

11 posted on 09/06/2007 11:10:50 AM PDT by SampleMan (Islamic tolerance is practiced by killing you last.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Abathar
In 20 years tops I estimate 90%+ of crops will be harvested by robotic pickers.

Not if we don't close the borders.

12 posted on 09/06/2007 11:11:46 AM PDT by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: lado

The California Farm Bureau Federation estimates that the job requires about 225,000 workers year-round and double that during the peak summer season

So because California uses 225k workers year round and 450k workers in peak season, we need 12 million (BS stats) illegals?

Hehe pretty funny, if you take that 225k X 50 states (yes I know there are more than 50 states)look what you get.....11,250,000.


13 posted on 09/06/2007 11:12:16 AM PDT by sheana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: counterpunch

Necessity is the Mother of Invention.

Deport all Illegals ............NOW!

Illegals are not wanted in the USA. They are people who cast our laws by the way side.


14 posted on 09/06/2007 11:13:55 AM PDT by EnglishOnly (Fight all out to win -or get out now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: lado

This is exactly what happened after Operation Wetback. When cheap serfs became unavailable the growers were forced to mechanize. Now it’s happening again.

I’ve heard the argument that the Industrial Revolution could have got started with the ancient Greeks and Romans but because of the institutionalization of slavery, no considered automata to be anything more than toys.


15 posted on 09/06/2007 11:14:05 AM PDT by sinanju
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lado
Lets put some of these guys on the border...


16 posted on 09/06/2007 11:14:17 AM PDT by darkwing104 (Let's get dangerous)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: counterpunch

The Bush Administration waved a magic wand to ignore the substitution effect of capital for labor.


17 posted on 09/06/2007 11:16:14 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: lado

People have been using machines to replace labor in agriculture since the first farmer used a sharp stick to dig a hole instead of using his own fingers.

As the cost of labor goes up, labor is replaced by machines. This is a good thing. The value of the labor of a man driving a tractor that harvests as many grapes as a hundred field hands is worth much more than the labor of a single field hand. This is how we make progress.


18 posted on 09/06/2007 11:16:27 AM PDT by gridlock (I don't support Hillary Clinton because I am afraid of strong women.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Abathar

I see a bright future for community colleges with ag equipment repair degrees.

Time to put vo-tech training back in high schools.


19 posted on 09/06/2007 11:17:54 AM PDT by Valpal1 ("I know the fittest have not survived when I watch Congress on CSPAN.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Balding_Eagle

Even then. Farmers don’t like investing in wages when they can invest in an asset that will pay for itself after a while. Even if they sell out a lot of that money can then be returned when they auction off.


20 posted on 09/06/2007 11:19:21 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-67 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
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

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