California farmers cry about not being able to use slave labor.

Okay, that's not the title of the article.
Here is the title of the article: As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers race to replace workers with robots

But, that's basically the complaint. Ever since President Trump entered office, apparently ICE has started doing its job and illegal aliens are deciding that it is probably better to stay back at home. Because of this lack of very cheap and illegal labor, California farmers are moaning about having to either raise wages or move to automation.

In particular, they fear having to buy Argobot to replace their workforce.

Sure, upgrading to machines is expensive and farming itself is an up and down business. Most people became aware of the issues with the ups and downs of farming when Farm Aid was created back in the mid-80s.

Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on the land.

Farmers had bought a lot of expensive equipment and then food prices collapsed. When the prices collapsed, then they couldn't afford the loans on the equipment or their land and many went under, having to sell farms that had been in the family for generations. The New York Times published an article in 1988, Farm Population Lowest Since 1850's

Officials said an average of 4,986,000 people lived on farms in 1987, or 2 percent of the United States population of 243.4 million.
By 1850, farm people made up 4.9 million, or about 64 percent, of the nation's 7.7 million workers.

Try to take a grasp of those numbers. In 1987, the same number of people were farming as back in 1850. But, in 1850, that made up 64% of the population.

According to the USDA and the 2012 Census

In 2012, 3.2 million farmers operated 2.1 million farms... the number of U.S. farmers declined between 2007 and 2012 going down 4.3 percent in the case of principal operators.

The number of people who farm as a profession in the USA is dropping every time the census is being taken.
Has food production reduced? No.
Has the variety of food reduced? No.
Then how did this happen?

Automation.

Whenever labor cost goes to high to meet market price demands, automation must happen. Also, when labor become short, automation must happen. I know, that in the midwest states, corn production was changed as fewer and fewer teenagers looked to farm work for cash. Farmers couldn't find kids willing to come out to the country to work a hard day, when they could easily stay in town and work an easy day for the same amount of money. Also, jobs on the farm are dependent on other factors and sometimes they are not very steady. Someone who needs to help provide for the family, can't rely on a job that might be delayed due to rain and wind.

What kept automation out of the California, was cheap labor and then need for human hands for harvesting. But, that has been changing, with innovation. Engineers and creative farmers have found ways to harvest crops using machines and tools to speed up the process and reduce labor cost. It will continue to go this way.

And for some farmers, the move won't be to create machines to do the harvesting, but to improve the way plants are being grown and eliminate other unknowns. Hyrdoponics and aquaponics can't replace every crop method, but eventually more and more produce will be grown in large green houses, where less water and nutrients are need and no pesticides are used.

The irony of California's issues is, they are big on Fight for $15 and Living Wages, but when it comes to picking kale, they are okay with someone being paid under-the-table at a lower wage in order to keep prices down.

---

Let the positive energy sing!

More Power to the Minnows!!