By Clint Thompson
Additional research into automation is essential for the long-term sustainability of specialty crop producers. That’s the mindset shared by Blake Thaxton, executive director of the Alabama Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (AFVGA).
He commented on the ongoing Farm Bill negotiations and what the AFVGA would like to see prioritized.
“From the fruit and vegetable association side, I think our big thing we would like to see in the Farm Bill is more research dollars for specialty crops when it comes to automation and mechanization for the industry, just because of the labor issue being such a difficult input in specialty crops,” Thaxton said. “That’s the main thing we’re watching. I know there’s other priorities out there, but I think that’s one we’re hoping for the most.”
Labor remains the top concern for growers, not only in Alabama but across the Southeast. There is not enough domestic options available. A foreign workforce through the H-2A program remains the only reliable source of labor that producers have access to. But the program is expensive and can be cumbersome for farmers to utilize.
That places an added emphasis on automating many of the harvesters that are used to pick the various specialty crops. It would decrease much of the labor need, which is one of the most expensive inputs in a specialty crop farming operation.
“For long-term sustainability in the industry, it’s not getting any cheaper to use foreign labor. Technology is really the most logical answer there. We’d like to see more research dollars dedicated to that so we can move the industry forward into the future and hopefully solve some of these challenges,” Thaxton said.
