By Clint Thompson
Automation could be the key to a specialty crop producer remaining sustainable. The more tasks that artificial intelligence (AI) can perform on the farm, the fewer responsibilities that would be needed via the H-2A program.
But the reality of an automated harvester being made available on a commercial scale for all growers may present more of a challenge than producers realize.
Chris Butts, executive vice president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, spoke about this scenario during the Georgia Farm Bureau meeting on Dec. 4 in Jekyll Island, Georgia. He compared it to a new tractor coming online that all producers – specialty crop and row crop – can utilize. However, not everybody can use a blueberry or pepper harvester.
“It’s not necessarily that the specialty crop industry is small, it’s that the specialty crop industry is much more diverse than if you’re looking at standard row crops. Just within Georgia, we’re tracking over 30 vegetable commodities. We have the same in fruits. That is a challenge for us,” Butts said. “How do we ramp up and provide a marketplace for that technology so those equipment manufacturers are willing to invest in that? It’s really to make our workers more efficient.
“With the nature of our products, maybe some day there will be a robot that can go into a squash field and do the picking. I don’t know that we’ll see that in our lifetimes. But if we can develop tools to help our workers become more efficient and they can do more with less, that’s a good place to start.”
Reducing labor costs and dependency is critical during a time when the adverse effect wage rate (AEWR) is projected to increase substantially again throughout the Southeast region.