The robots are coming - to pick Pacific Northwest apples | Oregon Field Guide

[@Jan96106]

As he said, at this point, clearly the human workers are faster and better.

[@SeattlePioneer]

Human pickers are increasingly aided by technology, and without that technology, they are already dramatically inefficient. Imagine the farmworker who doesn't have a horse or wagon with which to haul his apples. No ladder, perhaps, or only a crude, home built ladder. Only a VERY local market in which to sell. Apples that rotted not long after being picked. Very limited varieties of apples. That was the situation little more than a hundred years ago. When I visited Florida, I was AMAZED at the trees carpeted with fruit! But in eastern Washington, the same thing is true of apples --- the amount of fruit on orchard trees is amazing! I would lump all of that technology together with artificial intelligence and mechanical fruit picking. It has utterly transformed food production.

[@TheTechnoPilot]

It’s unfortunate that it’s always framed as people not wanting to do these jobs, or wanting easier jobs. This is incorrect, it’s about these jobs paying enough for the required amount of work.

[@tonystewart7624]

That is absolutely correct. The sad thing is we are going to lose more and more physical skills as well because of the decline in this type of work. Orchard and farm work is extremely labor intensive and deserves better pay.

[@smileyjoe]

Came here to say this. The framing in this video uses anti-labor and pro-business tropes like "no one wants to work anymore!"

[@tonystewart7624]

@@smileyjoe Yeah I noticed that too. It's honestly shameful. What makes me even more upset about this video is that I used to depend on OPB for honest reliable coverage 20 years ago and now they are the same as any other media.

[@GoingtoHecq]

A lot of farmers severely abuse their workers as well, treating them genuinely like rented slaves.

[@daveklein2826]

Prove it

[@komorifarm9308]

We will all be replaced....eventually.

[@emachine310]

UBI and 90% tax rate on corporations EZ.

[@wutflex]

This is why small and the local is better than one state producing for the entire country. I’ll go a step further it’s better for the world❤

[@igaroot]

go tell Utah that

[@wutflex]

@@igaroot why

[@zyzzer]

​@@igarootare you talking about the production of Mormons?

[@debrapaulino918]

​@@wutflexbecause there is a spirit in humans that robots do not have. That is important for tree well being as well as the human. This is not folklore or myth. It's proven fact. All living things respond to touch even voice, and aura via an electrical exchange. ❤ Read The Secret Life of Plants by Thompkins and Bird. Just one book to get you going. First Nations have always known this. The Western mind and spirit does not and we are seeing the results.

[@debrapaulino918]

​@@wutflexbut maybe your question wasn't meant as I answered it.

[@CampingforCool41]

The noise from those drone pickers would drive a person absolutely insane

[@meatpopsicle1567]

So, don't trespass in someone else's orchard while they're picking apples, then.

[@CampingforCool41]

@@meatpopsicle1567 neat fact- noise travels.

[@meatpopsicle1567]

@@CampingforCool41 Fact-trees muffle sounds. Stay out of the orchard, Francis.

[@midnull6009]

...and how is that any different then cars driving on the roads or ppl living in cities w/noise pollution or airplanes flying overhead?

[@CampingforCool41]

@@midnull6009 it’s not. Noise pollution is bad lol

[@littlesheep392]

The software part is neat but anyone who knows how to pick apples it is a lift and twist motion not pull straight out because you will ruin the appe spurs. Seems like this is a infomercial.

[@outdoorfreedom9778]

Growing up in Washington I was the family apple picker!

[@SeattlePioneer]

In my neighborhood here in Seattle, there are a few apple trees on street ends or other public property. I used to pick some of those and make my own apple cider, using a KitchenAid Mixer attachment to grind the fruit and a hand crank cider press. The result was a really SUPERB cider ----and an appreciation for how much time and labor goes in to producing food. I picked maybe a couple of hundred pounds of apples, and I figured it took eight pounds of apples to makes a quart of cider. So--- did you ever make cider with your apples?

[@peterphan3524]

As farmer myself I don't think robots in the field is the most effective way. You may spend more time maintaining and setting the machine. Machine break down will delay the process of the harvest. Mother nature won't wait for you to repair your machine, when it's ready you better be ready or you will loose everything you grow.

[@SeattlePioneer]

[@OregonCrow]

Yea but how many times does that machine go down for? And how long does it stay down?

[@SeattlePioneer]

Heh, heh! How many hours a week does a man spend eating, sleeping a *ing? And what do you do when you have apples to harvest and no one wants to pick the fruit? All the people who might be picking your apples have student loans and are going to college these days!

[@r8chlletters]

If work that is overly dangerous or strenuous can be done by machine without additional consequences that’s great…but what I see are machines that are noisy and heavy, that may impact bees and compact the soil. They may also deprive people of a job that could be enjoyable if it were well paid.

[@NatNeoPit]

I totally agree, It would be interesting to hear the opinion of people as Vandana Shiva or whoever is a permaculturist. This is certainly the less romantic thing I've ever watched in my life. We have evolved to be, more or less, in nature, in contact with plants, with our food, not all the time in the city doing stupid and absurd artificial activities that have nothing to do with our natural reality. Machines are great to a certain extent as you said, but replacing every natural/traditional task, every natural/traditional activity with a mechanical and robotic one is, IMHO, denature the human being. It has to remain something that we can call _natural_ , _human_ , etc in our lives so as to be able to continue calling ourselves _humans_ , _natural_ _beings_ , etc... In any case, if this model of agriculture is to be spread, is better that it doesn't rule the agriculture panorama at all. It always should remain people who liked to do the traditional agri-culture. Something similar happens with artisan works : Some people resist to lost their natural and ancestral way of living, of crafting, etc...

[@SeattlePioneer]

> Sounds like you have NEVER picked fruit in a commercial orchard! I'll bet it is mainly hot, physically demanding, sweaty work even if reasonably paid.

[@edsalinas9996]

I'm all for getting high tech / AI to do difficult and dangerous jobs. This kind of technology will save a lot of backs, and falls. I've known apple pickers who have fallen off of those ladders and trees, and don't have anything positive to say about that part of the job.

[@nate4fish]

The Apple industry has already started to address this by changing how they plant and prune trees. There’s entire orchards that are under ten ft tall.

[@allpraisetothemosthighyah]

@@nate4fish facts. Not to mention most of these comments seem to be artificial intelligence or something.

[@PeggyAmaya]

We still DO have horses and carts and thankfully people skilled enough to work them. There is a place in the world for farming by people.and draft animals.

[@SeattlePioneer]

Is that what you do? Or do you simply find the idea romantically appealing?

[@YesItsReallyKeith]

so was that contraption running on fuel, running a motor and polluting the whole time ?

[@martinginsburg7222]

& what about the workers driving too and fro? They use fuel too..

[@alanhill2886]

Be more apples on ground than the worst picker would ever drop . Most varieties picking one apple out of bunch when ripe will result in others falling.

[@thatguy00842]

Absolutely. I'm glad there's another person with apple picking experience here!

[@LakelandRussell]

I don't like the the stem trimed like that. It makes the stem difficult to remove later.

[@timallison8560]

i see the issues being the cost of the picker putting small farms out of business and the ability of these huge computers to operate in the rain.

[@CHIEF_420]

🧂

[@MikeA15206]

Why do you have to clip the stem? Can’t the consumer do that?

[@r8chlletters]

And I’d argue with a stem the apple will last longer

[@projectmalus]

it punctures the other apples and they spoil @@r8chlletters

[@sherrykumar2883]

Fascinating technology. I find it unfortunate that the need for this technology is framed as young people want easy jobs however. Perhaps if the job paid better it would be much easier to find the labor required for such tedious work.

[@swparsons]

No. Nobody wants to pick apples if they have any better options. It’s not just the pay.

[@TheGuilha11]

isnt just agriculture alot of people are quiting harder jobs cause they pay the same has easier ones. and why would you work more for the same pay?? who would do that?@@swparsons

[@thatguy00842]

@@swparsons Not true. I've worked at an orchard for a few years. If the owners are decent and treat/pay their workers well, they keep coming back. It's a family business, so they actually are decent people.

[@TheBushdoctor68]

The future is here! A future where everything including apples will become more expensive despite their tremendously lowered production costs, and a future where that doesn't matter because you won't have a job anymore to buy them anyway.

[@martinginsburg7222]

opposite. For example it is a lot more expensive to have someone hand wash your clothes than using a laundry machine.

[@TheBushdoctor68]

@@martinginsburg7222 Everything is more expensive when someone else has to do it for you. The proper comparison is that it's far cheaper to handwash your own clothes than it is to use a laundry machine. Keep buying into the narrative of the Elites and you'll end up having to wash clothes for them.

[@Oldjohn52]

So, when the harvesters' software glitches (and it will) those apples will still need to be picked on time. I guess the future will need lots of repairmen, I mean "Service technicians"

[@theotheleo6830]

When machines break down, someone fixes them. What do you think happens when harvesters breakdown? They send in a bunch of people to hand pick wheat?

[@ydne]

The part of the team on ladders repeatedly reaching into potentially dangerous situations is a robot that its wrangler cleans up, fixes up and watches out for. The human wrangler however, usually stays on the ground and gets to be a better father with all the stress he isn't constantly in.

[@WaterspoutsOfTheDeep]

@@theotheleo6830 Tiny hands for tiny kernels.

[@MasterKenfucius]

It can probably pick them 24 hours a day too... dang.

[@k.chriscaldwell4141]

Redonkulous. Just at 0:28 one can see how slow it is. Add in depreciation and maintenance and efficiency goes to the toilet LOL!

[@RCAVDH]

The youth wants to make a living and you ain’t paying it

[@daveklein2826]

Prove it

[@theoryofpersonality1420]

So, what's the carbon footprint on that?

[@martinginsburg7222]

and what's the carbon footprint of workers driving to and fro?

[@gadielgomez2709]

When I was a kid I thought "one day there will be robots that work for us". But not instead of us.

[@offgridliving4128]

I worked on a farm for 12 years. I bet the labor force was 90% above the age of 50.

[@macharrington7733]

The younger ones were on their phone or watching Tik-Tok

[@katie7748]

​@@macharrington7733Children are a map of their parents, regardless of age.

[@yosemite735]

Younger could find better jobs.

[@macharrington7733]

@katie7748 yep...I give you Baltimore

[@quagmyer7230]

Only reason this job doesn’t pay more is because there are too many entities taking a cut of the goods without the risks of doing the hard labor and having a store front, like the distributors, brokers, from interstate to local transportation, for example, if an apple costs $1.00, how much of that money is really going to the farmer, who is the one taking a risk of food getting deteriorated, equipment maintenance, fertilizers, pesticides, etc? My personal opinion, multiple middle entities (like transportation brokers), are getting the best risk free benefit and charging too much for it. Take a cut out of their profits to raise the pay of the labor without increasing the cost of the product.

[@yvonnejohnson]

By the time the robot access and identify...a human would have picked dozen of apples

[@brasssnacks8413]

"Something we need to solve going forward" is such a weird way of describing human labour.

[@scottaussem1771]

Eventuslly the financial end needs to be worked out. Could 5pickers join together to buy a robot? Split the money evenly. They could repair the robots vwhen they break down monitor battery charges

[@uhohjrama]

We don't need Migrant Labor we have robots. What? I SAID WE DON'T NEED LABOR WE HAVE ROBOTS.

[@paiddj3397]

I dont care who does the job so long as it's not someone who's illegally in our country. That's a hard stop for me. To the point that I wouldn't need apples just to be sure we aren't utilizing labor that shouldn't be here.

[@dwylhq874]

Why is this using a combustion engine? Seems like the perfect place for a solar-powered electric motor. Silent & emissions free.

[@katie7748]

And where do the parts from those things come from? Where do they go when they die? It's just as if not worse than what we've already got. Nice try, though.

[@martinginsburg7222]

solar emission free at source but not in production. Solar, EVs are hoaxes.

[@justicesomeday]

I've climb those ladders to pick apples in eastern washington and it's not easy ........and i'm handicapped !!! this is awesome news

[@igaroot]

good report thanks 🙏

[@audreydupuy2628]

Why can't you sell apples with their stem?

[@igaroot]

stem puncturesother apples in storage and transport

[@joeearley3351]

Ya nobody wants to buy a imperfect apple just like corn all the kernels are perfect.

[@midnull6009]

Fun fact. This is why blueberries and raspberries are so expensive...it's the labor of picking them. And farms that offer "you pick your own" usually charge the "retail value" of these for no god damn reason...except money, lol.

[@danjones3176]

Kill the robots. Also, for those cheering this, remember that these technologies are eliminating human jobs.

[@Deevadeester]

So we should just go back to the dark ages without any technology? Calculators replaced human computers, machines replaced the pin boys that set up bowling pins, elevator lift operators where replaced by buttons and a computer, automated switchboard systems replaced switchboard operators, and robots replaced car factory workers.

[@michaelvandyke6715]

This generation coming up in the working world are lazy, they don't want to work!

[@ianweniger6620]

This technology reduces human physical labour. Capitalism perverts technology to reduce human jobs for increased profit instead of reducing hours of work needed for production.

[@daveklein2826]

Danny you are clueless

[@katie7748]

​@@DeevadeesterYeah, and we managed just fine without all that fancy tech.

[@skrmacs4815]

bring it on. robots are here

[@marcusm8009]

They could just roll the ball on the conveyor belt to the correct orientation and have a snipper above it.

[@wendy3992]

When we forget humans we get further from love which is the basis of a healthy world. Greed to make more money.

[@martinginsburg7222]

ok turn in your laundry machine, dishwasher & go for it

[@cicadas2024]

How about orchard on a hill or mountain?

[@webbgroup]

Where the John Deere robotics?

[@CHIEF_420]

💻🧂

[@mikemccright7418]

FYI, Washington produces more wheat than apples.

[@chloebryant1643]

From my perspective, it's more time consuming

[@snakedoctor2048]

How can it be more time consuming when those robots can work 24 hours non stop ?

[@paquitoignacio3449]

It’s a good technological invention, don’t know if it’s worth it of expenses against manual labor.

[@MikeA15206]

They work 24\7 and you never have to wonder if they will show up, or if some idiot build a wall.

[@SeattlePioneer]

> Heh, heh! Let's compare hand vs mechanical harvesting of wheat and corn while we are at it! Cyrus McCormick invented the mechanical harvester in 1838. Before that, grain was harvested by a man swinging a scythe all day, and harvesting an acre of wheat. I don't believe women were anxious to pick up a scythe, either! Perhaps we are in the year 1838 regarding mechanical harvesting of apples.

[@eliseolopez2790]

I AM THE ROOT OF DAVID YOUR MASTER!

[@wdtdive]

Change with technology?? really bad, sir Horse and humans are the way to go.. Humanity will regret it

[@qualqui]

But there is still the problem of transporting the apple from field orchard to city stores, will this make apples cheaper or more expensive?🤔

[@paiddj3397]

I dont care who does the job so long as it's not someone who's illegally in our country. That's a hard stop for me. To the point that I wouldn't need apples just to be sure we aren't utilizing labor that shouldn't be here.

[@buddycarmine2254]

In we wondered why there's so many homeless people in the world. All the jobs are being replaced. Not to mention knowledge that is being lost. Shm

[@fern8580]

Yes the new generation aspire to be apple pickers, moreover the human presence makes it possible to ensure that the products collected are not chemically toxic, with drones will you be able to do anything in terms of quality?

[@America650]

While I was volunteering at a homeless shelter, I’ve witnessed people who had no jobs and residing at the shelter turned down picking pears because they said it was beneath them! Like your homeless dude and it’s a job!

[@climatedeniersbelonginasyl4191]

I have picked apples for 4 seasons and I have a college degree...what is your point? Anecdotal evidence doesn't mean crap!

[@midnull6009]

that's not what they're saying at all...your comment doesn't stick to the point...@@climatedeniersbelonginasyl4191

[@markskibo5159]

SO Bottom line NOT better price on MY Apples just more profit for the factory farmers stockholders ???? YEP thought so !

[@martinginsburg7222]

no, it will still be a competitive market or why didn't it change when the laundry machine robot was invented?

[@Neli-bs4mq]

Man is own worst enemy. Machines like this one destroys jobs.

[@katie7748]

Which is exactly why I REFUSE to use self checkouts. Idgaf what anyone's excuse for using them is. It's still complying. It's still contributing to our demise.

[@martinginsburg7222]

turn in your laundry machine then and hand wash

[@flywesleybyrd]

Horrible. Slipping down the slippery slope towards a dystopian future not far off.

[@katie7748]

Not slipping, careening. And far too many myopic people are applauding it.

[@martinginsburg7222]

ever since the wheel was invented & we still seem to be doing ok with 7 billion of us.

[@pittuk6500]

lol....he said "skilled harvest laborer" with a straight face.

[@fedorbutochnikow5312]

sad, very very sad.

[@emachine310]

So apples will be 3$ a pound with this machine?

[@grantmccoy6739]

Its honestly a pretty niche type of orchard, I would imagine. Ive never seen a apple orchard that looks like a Vinyard, like this one. Usually, its just trees. It also maybe won't work great with other kinds of fruit. I don't really want to dismiss it though. It's very impressive. Maybe another solution is a variety that drops ripe fruit automatically. A series of nets at the trees would save the fruit, if thats even necessary. In my opinion, the simpler the solution, the better, and I also prefer humans controlling machines when possible.

[@thatguy00842]

Most commercial orchards use this type of cultivation these days. Rows are easier to grow, prune, and pick than individual trees.

[@projectmalus]

A big labor cost is pruning and the hedge style permits sickle mowers that have arms to mow ditches etc can also hold it vertically and grind the whole face off, then selectively hand pruning bits here and there...there's a lot of hand strain in pruning by hand also. If they wait until ripe enough to drop the fruit will be rotten and squished in transit, won't keep. Could also prune big trees with horizontal arms relatively close to the ground, use flood irrigation, not have miles of plastic tubing etc and use mechanical battery (quiet) pruners, and keep it small, local and cooperative focused if possible. Have you ever tried a Blenheim Orange apple? edit: and you're right, they tried it with oranges and that's one reason they're crap these days, those trees are dryland evolved with large root systems that don't like being spaced 3 feet apart...health = high sugar levels.

[@stacyvolek3418]

The food industry has been using “robots” for many years in the production of food. The “robots” were very simple to start, now they are much more complex, it’s about time to apply them to the fresh food industry! Be patient, it will take time to work out the bugs! 😊

[@sedevacantist1]

I can't wait for robots to start commenting on KZbin so you don't need to, maybe you could learn to code.

[@allpraisetothemosthighyah]

@@sedevacantist1 I thought it was a robot commenting. I think they already are

[@jason8ification]

Send this to Florida.

[@Coffee240]

Cheaper than immigrants. The future is here.

[@lutomson3496]

I'm from a 5th generation farm family kids don't want to farm and do the hard work good for these machines to help instead of unreliable human workers

[@allpraisetothemosthighyah]

Stop this is definitely a robot account commenting

[@rickace132]

Once the humanoid robot is created, all these specific robots fined tuned for a certain job would become unnecessary. The humanoid robot will be able to do everything a human can, maybe even better once the technology becomes very sophisticated.

[@pastiche9]

After spending a full day picking apples, this seems a bliss. Nevertheless picking by hand is a unmatchable. But anything is welcome which makes the farmers' job easier.

[@tricianilsson6870]

I have never been SO happy that i don’t like apples!

[@john762x51]

Stop blaming "young kids" for not wanting to pick apples for shit wages Picking apples sucks Most of these farmers are trying to get "young kids" to pick apples 6 Bucks an hour 5 Bucks an hour it's a $12-15 an hour job minimum

[@Intense_Cloud]

Later on, machines will have to buy their top other machines, i guess. You cannot compare (at least with that machine) the speed this machine gives and overall cost that required to operate. I wonder if it actually is cost effective?

[@edschultheis9537]

That apple picking robot is a work in progress. The speed, ability, and cost effectiveness with improve with each new software upgrade and each new machine version. You have to crawl before you can walk or run. These robots are in the crawling stage right now.

[@SeattlePioneer]

Suppose there is no labor willing to pick your crop. THEN what do you do?

[@RobbsHomemadeLife]

Jimmy Carters sec of Agriculture Bob Bergland shut down every single USDA farm mechanization and automation program.

[@quagmyer7230]

The problem is inflation, if they raise the pay for people to want this jobs, they’ll raise the prices on everything else, it’ll just be a more expensive problem.

[@kerryburns6041]

It´s not about people, it´s about profits.

[@KILLKING110]

Well yeah when people cost money and are a wild card as they can randomly call off sick, purposely destroy equipment, etc while a machine doesn't have those problems and besides farmers already make less than people realize every year especially when a basic tractor can be as much as 300,000$ for farming and no they aren't small like grampas tractor were talking the giant machines you see in farm country.

[@martinginsburg7222]

and you don't care about profits either? You work for free?

[@bollweevil8112]

#universalbasicincome

[@1Corinthians151-4]

0:50 mankind knows not what they do, and the World is on its path to hell on a greased pole. Thank God we live in grace today, but in my lifetime, due to mankind advancing and knowing not what they do... they're were doomed.

[@106oz]

This is not good.

[@DavidS11]

"Kids wanting to do the easy jobs". Because writing 20 thousand lines of code and debugging it to perfection is real easy compared to picking apples, my man 🤣🤣 Funny thing the main difference is that for apple picking you don't need many brain cells, for the "easy jobs" it's an absolute necessity

[@katie7748]

What an idiotic comment SMH

[@dave-yj9mc]

Why clip the stem! Everybody knows your supposed to twist it while saying the alphabet and whatever letter it falls off at is who you're going to marry. Neat machine !

[@katie7748]

Oh man I'd forgotten about that!

[@dominic6055]

Absoluetly unsustainable, to have mass implementation of robotics in agriculture means a huge R&D and expense of resources(oil and metals) and these robots consume a lot of energy if you look at things holistically. So with a certain oil crisis, robotics in agriculture will have no future

[@SeattlePioneer]

You look forward to a job swinging a scythe to harvest wheat, too, I suppose?

[@dominic6055]

@@SeattlePioneer I didn't say that, but I've said that there aren't the energy factors to sustain a mass adoption of robotization of agriculture. Technology is a net consummer of energy, not a net producer. So I'm not talking of what I want, I'm talking that another solution should be sought after as for farming goes.

[@dominic6055]

Scythe is for harvesting grains mainly and you're somehow correct in realizing that grains will be one of the hardest hit crop, because of their reliance from oil age tools, more than any other cultivation. I could say instead of grains, we'd eat more fruits and nuts

[@SeattlePioneer]

You look forward to a job swinging a scythe to harvest wheat, too, I suppose?>> Your reply:

[@SeattlePioneer]

Am I correct that you are supposing that we will discard fossil fuel powered agriculture? Do away with wheat, barley and corn? WHAT would the beer drinkers say!?

[@Noname-cn4ly]

The young kids are looking for jobs that pay a livable wage! Crop picking pays peanuts….

[@billwhitlatch961]

Leave the stems on

[@martinginsburg7222]

bumps into other apples and bruises them promoting rot

[@debrapaulino918]

Bye bye jobs.

[@martykimble9999]

Headline! "Apple picking machine weaponizes self and goes on killing spree!"

[@FrederVision]

Use to be a good job and a person could afford to live off these wages. Same story accross many industries. Employers not willing to pay more but have no problems raising prices.

[@martinginsburg7222]

You got it wrong it is the conedsumers who don't want to pay the appropriate price that would support a living wage.

[@udishomer5852]

These jobs are almost completely reliant on migrant workers from Mexico and Central America, most of which are probably illegal immigrants. These are the places that would be affected by these jobs disappearing.

[@HuFlungDung2]

Likely you could offer $50/hour and still not get much of a response in labor. All the pickers are needed everywhere at once, in a very short time frame. And what should they do for the other 11 months of the year? That's why you can't get the modern educated person to be a fruit picker.

[@peaceonearth1971]

sounds good, but I guess much expensive than hiring some amigos, u know what I mean

[@martykimble9999]

Please. Wishing for a solar flair

[@towzone]

The availability of laborers=immigration reform. You can’t hate the people who are willing to pick your food.

[@sedevacantist1]

"It's the future"...no, it's the end. I know, the farm workers need to learn how to code.

[@jamessconiers1968]

That's a "choice".

[@Jesus-The-Everlasting-Father]

Based on this video, i can see that robots can pick 1 apple a minute, whereas human beings can pick 30 apples a minute. I;ll go for humans.

[@martinginsburg7222]

early days just wait the robot will win on speed. Rome wasn't built in a day

[@JohnnyPeacenic]

I dont think the stem needs to be trimmed

[@daveklein2826]

Yes it does

[@theotheleo6830]

Then, why would he do it?

[@zyzzer]

I don't think you know what you're talking about lol. When is the last time you worked picking apples in an orchard? Or at a store selling apples? Or even read a single book on the topic? Might you be talking out of your proverbial ass? 😏

[@MarvelParsons700]

Why can't they invent a robot that can pick fruit/veg that grow 2/3 feet off the ground so people don't need to bend over to harvest them.

[@SeattlePioneer]

Cyrus McCormick invented the mechanical harvester to harvest wheat in 1838. Before that, a man swung a scythe all day cutting an acre of wheat. It still needed to be collected into sheaves, threshed and winnowed to get the grain.

[@wayneyd2]

There goes the unemployment.

[@plutopedro1]

Destroy the death star.

[@brasssnacks8413]

So fruit pickers are famously underpaid. That excess value creates the profit. The profit is used to get the robot. The robot replaces the labour. So you have labour paying for the robot that replace them but the owner reaps the production. Then we have this Kent Karstetter person saying how young people down aspire to be an apple pickers while he has a field of underpaid migrant labour behind him WORKING to make him money while he sits and has an interview about how he isn't able to attract workers to make HIM money. Just pay your workers for the value they produce instead of trying to pay them as little as you can get away with for the purposes of enriching yourself.

[@EddieMunozep]

U dont have to change just because

[@ahmadiyyaislam3595]

No it's not the future! These are the "plastic" apples stacked in the big box stores that don't have taste or no one likes to eat

[@martinginsburg7222]

Yes it is the future and your plastic apples will be plastic regardless of who picks them

[@garguntoter]

Thats why the stems are so short now, I hate that, sorry.

[@rustyscrapper]

I am ok with robots that pick fruit. If you can do it cheaper then foreign workers please go ahead.

[@scottaussem1771]

Cotton corn wheat eventually everything will be harvested by machines

[@ralphwiggum250N]

how about a documentary on pesticides used during the season the Mexican workers are then exposed to? Any cancers with the workers?