Page 30 - Farm and Food Policy Strategies for 2040 Series
P. 30
By Fran Howard
As attempts by Congress to pass meaningful immigration reform repeatedly fail, those in
agriculture are steadily moving forward in a race to develop and adopt the newest technologies in
automation—primarily robotics—to stem the need for immigrant farmworkers. New
technologies alone, however, are unlikely to solve the worsening farm labor shortage, and U.S.
agriculture will continue to suffer unless long-term solutions are found.
“Last year, some strawberry growers couldn’t find workers and will not replant this year,” said
Paul Bissett, founder of Harvest CROO, a firm developing a robotic strawberry harvester.
28 www.Agri-Pulse.com
