As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers race to replace workers with robots
As California’s labor shortage grows, farmers race to replace workers with robots
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Vast areas of the Central Valley have switched from labor intensive crops such as grapes or vegetables to almonds, which are mechanically shaken from the tree. The high-value wine grape industry has re-engineered the bulk of its vineyards to allow machines to span the vines like a monorail and strip them of grape clusters or leaves.

Fresno’s raisin industry, however, has a tougher problem to solve on a tighter profit margin. To fully mechanize, it may have to change not just its vineyard design, but the grape variety itself, much like the tomato industry developed a tough skinned Roma to withstand mechanical harvesters.

When labor shortages and price shocks hit in the early 2000s, growers altered vineyards so that machines could shake partially withered Thompson seedless grapes onto paper trays, a method that can slash more than 80% of labor costs, according to U.C. Davis researchers.

Eliminating trays entirely, however, requires a grape that can dry slowly on the vine before September rains hit. Thompsons mature too late. The Sunpreme, developed by a retired USDA plant scientist in the Central Valley, may soon be widely available, said Matthew Fidelibus, a UC cooperative extension advisor.
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Even Driscoll’s AgroBot, [...] Vertical rods slid left and right, guiding four-fingered graspers to precise coordinates set by a camera and computer. Soon, a stream of ripe berries emerged on a conveyor, mixed occasionally with green-tipped fruit.
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Abundant Robotics, which hopes to duplicate the dexterity, judgment and perception of human apple pickers. Soft Robotics, based in Cambridge, Mass., boasts that its graspers can pick up a cupcake without damaging the icing.
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AgroBot’s U.S. competitor for strawberry picking, Harvest Croo, based in Plant City, Fla. An early generation of robotic machine uses a band saw to mow whole rows of baby lettuce and other greens. But when produce giant Taylor Farms tried it on romaine heads, a slight height variation in the beds put the saw right across the heart of the heads, leaving nothing but shredded leaves, Maconachy said. Maconachy developed a cutter using high-speed water jets. It now cuts all the romaine heads cleanly, and can be adapted for cabbage and celery. “That machine took the work of 30 people and brought it down to about 12 people”
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Ironically, plant scientists may have to reverse their cross-breeding to the original “iceberg” head, [...] The crisphead variety used to be more bulb-shaped, which would give cutters and graspers more room to work
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The computer-guided See and Spray machine, developed by Silicon Valley start-up Blue River Technology, can do the work of 20 of those laborers before noon.
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http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-farm-mechanization/
http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-farm-mechanization/

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

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