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  1. #1
    Senior Member Captainron's Avatar
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    "Men of low degree are vanity, Men of high degree are a lie. " David
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Dixie's Avatar
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    Check out the 29 seconds of mechanized tomato harvest.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvWZIj-X ... re=related

    All nuts are harvested that way. Pecans are shaken and a truck rolls by and vacuum or rakes them up.

    Lettuce Pickers
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naERIQClfSE

    At about 6:00 of the above video, it states that a "mechanical harvesting system has been developed for lettuce but has not been used". Why? Because it's cheeper to hire illegals than to buy the equipment.

    Wonder what McCain has to say about that?

    Dixie
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  3. #3
    Senior Member MontereySherry's Avatar
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    I live right in the middle of Almond and Walnut Orchards. I know they are mechanized from the clouds of dust when they start harvesting, but the farmers still swear they need immigrants from the south.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Captainron's Avatar
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    At about 6:00 of the above video, it states that a "mechanical harvesting system has been developed for lettuce but has not been used". Why? Because it's cheeper to hire illegals than to buy the equipment.
    I doubt that it is cheaper--in the long run. There was a report on CBS about a lettuce farmer who moved his operation from Arizona to Mexico, because he said that he would not be able to get the workers. The reality is that there are lettuce harvesting machine available. And what do you suppose it cost him to relocate in Mexico? Even if he got the land a lot cheaper he still would have a lot of capital outlay on moving all of his equipment. Maybe he sold his Arizona land for development? I never take anybody's story at face value these days.

    One issue raised as a defense against harvesting machinery is that small farms would not be able to buy them. This was one argument UFW used to stop the UC Davis technology program. But small farms can pool together and rent or lease equipment. My father's family did that with their wheat harvest. Another thought: Do machines for harvesting berries have to be as heavily built as those for potatoes? Why not use plastic body parts instead of metal, aluminum framework instead of steel. Then, other parts like tires could be lighter, engines could be smaller,etc. Pretty soon you have an affordable machine with economically replaceable parts for the smaller farm.
    "Men of low degree are vanity, Men of high degree are a lie. " David
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