http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Pzc9pN ... re=related

I thought this was going to be strictly machine (with the drivers of course) but they do have people cleaning the broccoli on the conveyor as it moves with the harvesting machine. Just about anything grown can be picked by a mechanical device though some are more efficient than others. Many of them are simple tractor attachments.

On NBC's "Children of the Harvest" documentary they showed the pickers dumping the 'fragile' cucumbers from bin to bin. So much for the "too delicate to pick by machine" argument. If they can toss fresh produce around like that, I'm sure we could design a machine that would be more sensitive. They also showed how some migrant labor was reduced by genetically modified crops and Round-Up weed control; No need for human weeders!

But we will get stuck with them in the labor force, anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Pzc9pN ... re=related