SMS wrote
krw wrote
wrote
Rod Speed wrote
I wasnt talking about corn as a source of veg oil, just as an
example of a crop that is produced in the first world using
industrial scale agriculture that doesnt get used in the low labor
cost countrys.
The U.S. *is* a low labor cost country when it comes to agriculture.
That which is mechanized; corn, soy beans, wheat, etc.
The labor imports itself from across the border.
Something like 24% of the agricultural labor force is =3Fimported=3F.
Unfortunately, a lot of agriculture is not easily mechanized,
Depends entirely on how you define a lot.
especially fruit harvesting. No one's designed a strawberry picking
machine yet. For apples sent to be processed for juice or sauce, they can shake the tree, but for
apples to be sold as whole fruit they have to pick them because they don't want them bruised.
About 45% of fruit harvesting, and 25% of vegetable harvesting is still down by hand.
That last is overstated. And it doesnt have to be done
without humans involved to be mechanised anyway.