"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message
...

Doug Kanter wrote:

"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message
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Doug Kanter wrote:

((Snipped))


No to the last. The reason is probably economics, cheaper to pay labor
than to develop, buy, and maintain machines. Also the way they are
grown would probably have to change and could increase costs. It
certainly isn't because the strawberries are delicate. Recent ones
that I ate were nearly as hard as apples.


Farmers don't develop the machinery, and farm equipment manufacturers
don't pay farm laborers. But, never mind. I'm doing some research that
should interest you. I'll get back to you later about which crops are
NOW harvested by machines (or not).

That a specious argument (statement?). Of course farmers don't develop
the machinery, but they buy the machinery and they pay the farm laborers.
A machinery maker isn't going to develop a machine that is too expensive
for farmers to buy.


You'd be terrified if you know what a typical corn harvesting setup
costs. But, small farmers manage to buy them.

Only if I had to buy it would I be terrified? The cost of equipment to
just prepare the ground for planting is high, so is everything else. But
of course that has nothing to do with anything.

OTOH, no business man has hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital if
he has an annual profit of $20,000. Harvesting equipment ranges from
very small and relatively cheap equipment that is labor intensive to huge
machines that cost a fortune. Somewhere in the "small farmer" category
most do not own the harvesting equipment but hire harvesting crews.

Well, that's a general statement that ends up being extreme. Nobody harvests
cattle corn by hand, unless we're talking about an incredibly tiny dairy
operation producing boutique cheese for fancy restaurants, or some kid
grooming a cow for a state fair competition. Eliminating these exceptions,
corn operations will always have some sort of trick machinery, and at the
top end is equipment that checks the moisture content of the corn and sorts
it in an appropriate fashion.