February 2021 - 4

EDITOR'S LETTER
Assessing realities
There isn't much good that has come from the tremendously destructive
COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for farm operators who have struggled
for nearly a year with immense challenges involving restricted markets and
health and safety issues for themselves and their labor force.
The prospect of having to deal with similar
challenges for a considerable time going
forward may cause some specialty crop
growers to look more seriously at finding
ways to do more with less human labor. A
potential solution that has been emerging for
years - automated agriculture - has actually
picked up steam in light of the challenges
imposed by the coronavirus.
Robotics and other technological
innovations have thus far remained at arms
length for most growing operations, due
primarily to practicality, availability and costs.
Gary Pullano
Editor
Phil Martin, professor at the University of California-Davis, spoke in early
December at the online National Council of Agricultural Employers annual
meeting on the topic of COVID-19 and Farm Labor in 2020.
Martin stressed that while mechanization is evolving, a heavy reliance on
H-2A guest workers will continue for farms who are unable to secure enough
domestic workers.
Martin said the produce industry survived COVID-19, as total fruit and
vegetable shipments and employment in 2020 did not decline from the
previous year.
While some farms experienced a reduction in work hours, it wasn't
necessarily due to the lack of available workers.
Labor costs were impacted as growers were required to purchase personal
protective equipment for COVID-19 and enact social distancing measures
related to housing and transportation.
Combine that with the fact commodity prices were lower in 2020 - resulting
in what Martin termed a price-cost squeeze - and use of mechanization
bumped up a bit on growers' wish lists.
The tradeoffs going forward include balancing efficiency vs. resilience.
" Machines don't get sick, but are fixed costs, enabling growers to
specialize, " Martin said.
H-2A comprises 10% of average crop employment, leading to " more justin-time
H-2A workers and fewer just-in-case U.S. workers. "
" There's been a big new interest in labor saving mechanization and there
also is a new interest in productivity, " he said.
" There's a lot of venture capital coming in trying to either automate farm
labor tasks, or make workers more productive, " he said.
H-2A guest worker certifications rose to 275,000 positions in 2020, Martin
said, up 7% over 2019. The H-2A program represents about 10% of the total
U.S. crop labor supply and is up threefold from 2012.
" One big question is whether farmers are going to think about investing
in harvest aids that make the work easier for (U.S. workers) or whether
they're going to invest in housing in order to employ H-2A workers, " he said.
" There's going to have to be an investment one way or the other. "
The period of 1980 to 2010 marked 30 years of farm labor abundance.
From 2010 to 2030 is a time of transition, Martin said, where employers now
are attempting to replace workers with machines and grow crops whose
harvest can be automated.
Migrant H-2A workers have evolved after Braceros peaked at 450,000, or
20% in a 2 million person U.S. farm workforce. H-2A now consists of 10% of
1 million crop workers.
Imports have risen; over half of U.S. avocados and fresh tomatoes are
from Mexico.
Trade losses for California not offset by Market
Facilitation Program
Economic research measuring the overall losses
to California agricultural exports resulting from
the trade war shows that two years of Market
Facilitation Program payments only covered
roughly half of the net losses to California
commodities.
Vegetable
Growers
News.com
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USDA boosts infrastructure for pest detection,
surveillance funding
The USDA is allocating more than $70 million to
support 383 projects under the Plant Protection
Act's Section 7721 program to strengthen the
nation's infrastructure for pest detection and
surveillance, identification, threat mitigation, to
safeguard the nursery production system and to
respond to plant pest emergencies.
Results of 2020 Hastings pumpkin variety trial
shared
" While there is little published literature on
pumpkin production in northeast Florida to
compare our results to, we are still very satisfied
with the yield. "
Ohio State University breaks ground for new
controlled environment complex
The focus in this facility - research of
modern, sustainable food production
technologies, including soilless and
hydroponic production - will help distinguish
Ohio State from other institutions.
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February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2021
