Vocabulary

 

willing	lifetime	turn away (2)
price	employee	as many people as
labor	price tag	unemployed
exist	field (2)	realization
lack	used to	mechanize
push	shortage	find/found/found
scarce	decision	according to
adapt	survival	leave behind (2)
invest	keep up	in order to
zone	remove	automation
pull	force (3)	leaf/leaves
cost	replace	know/knew/known
effort	honest	agriculture
utilize	develop	enforcement
sensor	complex	combination
rush	attempt	meet/met/met (2)
globe	replace	build/built/built
GPS	additional	position (2)
tractor	harvest	good/better/best
key (2)	make sure	drive/drove/driven (2)
spray	plant (3)	generation
built in	hurdle (2)	consistently
precise	massive	get over (2)
reduce	pick (3)	come/came/come
tag	employ	abundance
unit	exciting	operator (2)
peace	ground	get across (2)
piece	compute	timely manner
drastic	scale (2)	at the end of the day (2)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Brad Goehring, Farmer: “Things have changed so much in my lifetime with farming; we used to turn away as many people as we employed because they were simply an abundance of labour that doesn’t exist anymore.

I am starting to come to the realization that were in for lack of labor for a long time, which is forcing our hand to mechanize.”

American farming has a big problem: it’s hard to find people willing to work in the fields. According to the California Farm Bureau Federation, 69% of California farmers have reported a shortage in seasonal labor. Brad Goering is one of the 69%.

Brad Goehring, Farmer: “Our family’s been farming; we’re in our fifth generation now and we’ve been farming wine grapes for over a hundred years.

Labor was just very abundant — and now it’s very scarce. Our labor needs are going up now. We’re short at certain times a year — up to 50%.

I want to stay in farm and want my kids to stay in farming. But if I don’t adapt right now, I’m afraid we’re gonna get left behind; it’s survival.”

In order to keep up production Goehring, like many other farmers, has had to invest in automation.

Brad Goehring, Farmer: “The way we used to do this is the workers would get in here by hand and and do this all manually, removing the the leaves from the fruit zone.”

This leaf puller costs around $30,000 and can replace 30 people.

Brad Goehring, Farmer: “We really do know, having made some honest efforts to employ anybody, is that Americans simply don’t want to do agricultural labor.”

The source of the labor shortage is complex: it’s a combination of immigration enforcement, a stronger Mexican economy and American disinterest in farm work. As a result nearly two-thirds of California farmers reported either utilizing or attempting to utilize mechanization in their production.

All of this while farm equipment gets smarter and more high-tech, as companies rush to develop more complex machinery to meet farmers needs.

DeAnna Kovar, Director of Production and Precision Ag Marketing, John Deere: “The equipment that we’re using has much more technology built in, from sensors to global positioning systems to additional automation that helps the farmer do a better job at what they’re doing every day.

We’re using GPS technology and systems on the tractor to help that operator drive consistently to make sure that they’re always planting, spraying or operating where they need to be.

Farmers make decisions every season every day in every hour. And making sure that any system in the future can replace those decisions and do as good or a better job than the farmer is a key hurdle for us to get over in agriculture before we ever find ourselves in a fully autonomous system.”

The future of farming is not without its costs: this massive grape harvester drastically reduces Garen’s labor needs — but it came with a $350,000 price tag.

Brad Goehring, Farmer: “Each unit replaces 36 people for a period of six weeks, so that’s fourteen thousand four hundred (14,400) people replaced in just two years . . . pretty exciting.

I can expect faster more precise machinery in the in the future that can compute in a in time enough to where we can get across our ground with these new pieces of equipment in a timely matter to meet the vines, needs.

We’re picking more grapes in less amount of time.

We have to be able to compete on a global scale at the end of the day. We have to be able to do this just to survive.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

Questions

Tractor. Americans love to work outdoors, in sunshine, with fresh air, and with fresh fruits and vegetables. True or false?

Plow. Has farming remained exactly the same over the decades? What is the biggest difference, according to Brad Goehring the farmer?

Fertilize. Is the demand or need or farm work constant, or does it vary throughout the year?

Seeds. Brad has been involved in farming since he graduated from university with a degree in agronomy and horticulture. Is this right or wrong?

Sow, Plant. Does he receive thousands of resumes and job applications? Is there a glut of farm laborers? Why is there a shortage of farm workers?

Germinate, Sprout. How has Brad and other farmers responded to the labor shortage in agriculture?

Weather Patterns. Farm equipment remained the same for decades. Is this correct or incorrect? How are they different? Describe some of the innovations.

Water, Irrigate. Are the solutions cheap? What have been the results? Are farmers pleased with the results?
 
 
 
Spray, Insecticide, Pesticide, Herbicide. What crops does you region or country cultivate? What agricultural products are exported and imported?

Ripe. Has agriculture changed over the decades? How have things changed?

Pick, Harvest. Who works in agriculture? Has this pattern been changing?

Load. What might happen in the future?

Truck, Transport. Should people and governments do anything? What could or should they do?