Economics
Robot Crop Pickers Limit Loss of Farm Workers to Trump Wall
- Decline of immigrant labor has spurred agricultural automation
- Tighter borders may mean more fruit, vegetable farms in Mexico
This article is for subscribers only.
Robotic devices like lettuce thinners and grape-leaf pullers have replaced so many human hands on U.S. farms in recent years that many jobs now held by illegal workers may not exist by the time Donald Trump builds his promised wall.
For many American farmers, the automation push isn’t just about the President-elect’s goal to seal the border with Mexico, the traditional source of cheap migrant labor for the world’s largest agricultural exporter. There just aren’t enough crop pickers around as immigration slows, deportations rise and the prospects of congressional reform look remote.