Specialty crop growers are finding ways to become more mechanized as labor shortages continue.
Mark Longstroth with Michigan State University Extension tells Brownfield specialty crop growers continue to be shorthanded and researchers are finding ways technology can supplement a dwindling labor supply. One such project is called the vineyard of the future. “We raise the vineyard up in the air, moving from a five-foot-tall trellis to a seven-foot-tall trellis. We have the potential to virtually double the yields of juice grapes.” He says pruning and harvest can then become mechanized without requiring farmers to replace their vines.
Continue reading Mechanizing in the face of labor shortages at Brownfield Ag News.
