Making Agricultural Jobs More Appealing – AG INFORMATION NETWORK OF THE WEST

Making Agricultural Jobs More Appealing

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

One of the reasons younger generations are less interested in production ag careers is because they don’t see the thrill they see in other occupations. Steve Saunders of Robotics Plus is hopeful that bringing robotics into agriculture can change that. He believes automation isn’t taking jobs, but rather increasing the number of higher-value jobs.

Saunders… “And I also think about the talent that’s coming through, you know, how do we create the next generation of ag workers. And sitting on tractors in a spray environment or doing really mundane tasks is not an attractive job. It costs the labor’s going up, the overtime rates, the, if it’s too hot, you sit down and have a break. That cost is becoming very, very high for growers. And, you know, how do we remain sustainable? And we’re also really excited to see the new, young operators coming in that are really excited that, you know, they can run this type of technology. So we’re getting long-term staff members on ranches, sons coming in to start to play with these new technologies, which is super exciting to see. And we don’t see it as, the one big question I always get asked is you’re getting rid of jobs. And we don’t see that. Well, what we see is, you know, how to create better jobs and then how people can be deployed into more satisfying jobs within the orchard. And history would always tell you that automation has not reduced jobs. It’s actually increased jobs over time.”

Again that’s Steve Saunders of Robotics Plus.