Shortage of Farm Labor Causes Problems, Changes

A new article points out that orchardists of all stripes are having more trouble finding farm labor to manage and pick their crops. The problem is causing losses for many farms as crops go unpicked.

Causes include: rising wages in Mexico and right-wing political hostility towards undocumented immigrant workers.

One solution may be mechanized harvests. Easy for wheat, but very difficult for grapes and some other fruits.  It requires major changes in planning and practice, but perhaps as machines continue to develop in dexterity and nimbleness, we will someday only gaze over our orchards and vineyards as machines do all the work. Very Sci Fi, but . . .

Read the article here.