California accounts for about half of US fruit production, and it’s also an area that relies heavily on a migrant workforce – people who play an essential role in the US’ food supply chain through planting, cultivating and harvesting the fresh fruit and vegetables that stock grocery stores.
An aging workforce, changing immigration policies, and competition from other industries have placed great strain on growers who struggle to harvest their crops due to a shortage of available pickers. Only 11 years ago, farmers in Georgia lost $75 million as a result of not having enough labour to harvest their produce after illegal migrant workers avoided the state with the fear of being expelled. In light of this, the news that President Trump has already started to enact his strict immigration and deportation measures poses a huge threat to US food security and has the potential to significantly disrupt already unstable supply chains.
Soft fruit producers, like raspberry growers, are particularly vulnerable to these labour supply concerns.
Raspberries are notoriously labour-intensive to harvest given their delicacy, requiring careful handling to prevent bruising and damage. Unlike other crops like grains that can be efficiently gathered with mechanised equipment, these fruits require a human-like touch. This has kept many soft fruit producers reliant on human labour, making them especially vulnerable to fluctuations in worker availability. Farmers are facing rising labour costs, production slowdowns, and, in some cases, are unable to harvest entire fields, leading to higher prices for consumers and financial strain for growers.
The industry needs sustainable solutions that enable growers to continue food production while maintaining affordability for consumers. While replacing the entire human workforce is not viable (nor is it the goal), automation may be one piece of the puzzle to ease growers’ issues with labour supply while delivering a quality product at scale.
Securing the Future of Farming: supplementing an existing workforce
Advancements in agricultural robotics are beginning to reshape the industry, offering innovative ways to address labour shortages while maintaining productivity for growers and producers. Fieldwork Robotics is at the forefront of this transformation. Our autonomous raspberry-harvesting robots are designed to supplement existing labour and enhance farm efficiency, instead of replacing whole workforces. Our robots mirror the delicacy and precision of human pickers, ensuring high quality yields while reducing reliance on unpredictable labour availability.
Our autonomous harvesting platform, the Fieldworker 1, is already picking raspberries alongside human labourers in Europe and Australia. We expect that in the medium term, our harvesting costs will match those of human labourers, providing growers with a feasible solution that they can integrate with their picking workforce.
Within the next 5 years, our platform should be capable of picking over half of the raspberries on a large raspberry farm, while reducing total harvesting cost by around 20%. This greatly reduces growers’ risk related to political and economic fluctuations in labour availability, while simultaneously freeing valuable labour resources to be concentrated on more specialised tasks.
Embracing innovation for a sustainable and resilient industry
Harvesting automation is not about replacing human workers. It’s about learning how to work with technology, complementing the existing workforce, and enabling growers to maintain production levels even when labour is scarce.
There is no doubt that immigration policy will remain prominent on political agendas over the next five years. In the meantime, the agricultural industry must take proactive steps to secure its future. Investing in automation is one way to ensure that fresh, locally grown food remains available to all customers, at accessible prices.
The global fresh fruit and vegetable market is worth nearly $733.87bn. It’s a huge industry that needs to navigate significant labour market fluctuations and support individual growers as they grapple with new legislation amidst a shifting political context. By embracing innovation, we can sow the seeds of a farming landscape that is both resilient and sustainable—keeping berries on tables today, tomorrow, and for generations to come.
