Pushed by Rising Labor Costs
Mechanization Seen for Vegetables
Spurred by sharply rising la
ker costs, increasing shares of
Vs. vegetable crops ate being
mechanized.
The future is not so bright
fer fruits, however, since
mechanization for fiuits and
Buts is expected to lag
As overall vegetable and fiuit
production expands shaiply, to
tal labor needs are expected to
remain stable, despite increas
ed mechanization.
These trends of rising labor
hosts and increased mechaniza
tion can be expected to con
tinue through 1975, according
to the USDA’s Statistical Re
porting Service.
In the past two decades both
hand labor and machmeiy have
gone up in price. But labor's
•ost has climbed about 50 per
®ent fastei since 1950
If this sort of price lelation-
Bhip persists to 1975, hai vest
ing machinery too expensive in
terms of today’s labor costs may
well become relatively cheap
tomorrow.
By 1975, three-foui ths of the
U.S. vegetable ciop piobably
Will be machine harvested That
compaies with a bit inoie than
half today.
Practically all the IN a lion’s and lecently completed the tians
inap bean crop, all the i eas, action by pin chasing all the re
carrots, and potatoes will be mammg calves and heifers, notes
plucked mechanically, along the Pennsylvania Golden Guern-
With much of the tomato, let- sey News
BETTER
FEEDS
for cows
pay off
handsomely
to dairymen
The best feeds you can buy for
your cows are the best invest-
ment that you can make!
FLORIN FEEDS have been
tried, tested and proven suc-
cessful as a means of increas
ing milk production and main
taining good health. You’ll ap
preciate the difference they’ll
in the size of your
-milk checks!
make
WOLGEMUTH
BROS., INC.
Mount Joy, Pa. Ph. 653-1451
n j i*. ♦< fi l f> *«
tuce, cucumber, and onion
crops.
In fact, only fresh tomato hai
vcsling will be less than half
way mechanized by 1975
As for fiuits and nuts, the
two per cent now being ma
chine picked should be up to 17
per cent in 1975 There’ll be
further mechanization in that
cherry pioduction which is
already about 50 per cenf com
plete. And there should be big
gains too in sweet chemes,
wine grapes, and cling peaches.
The machines’ coming isn't
going to mean a big cutback in
fruit and vegetable labor needs,
however.
The reason; A big gam in
pioduction is likely by 1975
and most of that gam will be in
fiuits and nuts where mechani
zation will still be slight.
Faimeis five yeais hence
piobably will be harvesting
about a fouith more fiuits and
nuts than they do nowadays
And while they won’t need as
Brenemans Get Herd
Lauy E and Connie E Brene
man, Diumore, last fall pui chas
ed Paul Biyan’s milking held
!I r ’
much harvest labor
machines will have cut their
needs about 23 per cent per
acre some prehaivest chores
will still be hand done and
time consuming. Thus, total
labor going into an acre of
fiuits and vegetables will be
down only about 19 per cent.
With crop production slated
to go up a fourth and output
per mart-hour to rise only about
a fifth, the total amount of la
bor going into fruits and nuts
in 1975 will probably be close
to what-it is today.
Harvesting iriay take eight
per cent fewer man-hours—229
million compared with 249 mil
lion today However, total labor
for all fruits and nuts, includ
ing all preharvest work, could
drop only three per cent by
1975—from 418 million to 414
million hours.
Only cherries and grapes will
need a lot less laboi then than
now—though there may be
some slight cutbacks in stiaw
berues and pecans, too
But citrus crops will call for
more woik in the yeais ahead
Output of oranges, for example,
is slated to use 41 per cent But
there’ll be only a moderate im
provement in output pei man
hour
Thus, tomonow’s laiger ciop
will take 24 per cent moie man
houis to pioduce And it’ll be
just about the same stoiy for
othei citrus ciops, too
Vegetables, in contrast, will
be easier to haivesl In the
next five years, mechanization
will have cut the amount of
harvest labor per acre almost
in half And even though pre
harvest work won’t be as com
pletely mechanized, total labor
going into an acie of vegetables
will be about a third less than
today.
With an expected 11 per cent
increase in the production of
vegetables over the next couple
of years, man-hours for hai vest
will fall off 40 per cent—fiom
163 million to 98 million. And
total labor needs will go from
265 million hours to 194 million
hours, about a 27 per cent de
dine.
PACKED WITH POWER!
UIHMINT* TH« wanio
alfalfa
grow free
Youi' alfalfa gioyvs fiee fiom many unwanted glasses and bioad
leaf weeds Fiee from their competition for plant food, soil
moisture and loot development loom Fiee from trashy, unpala
table hay with gieatly i educed nutnent value Fiee yourself fiom
the need of a nuise ciop
StI ECTIVE HERBICIDE
BROWN & REA INC
i
, / *
% *
ATGLEN, PA. 19310
Lancaster Farming, Saturday. April 11. 1970 -7
A. H. HOFFMAN SEEDS, INC.
Landisville, Pa.
This year, use dependable, economical
Eptam to conti ol weeds Produce a pi of li
able fust haivest of hay fiom newly-plant
ed alfalfa Eptam stops the toughest weeds,
including nutgiass or nutsedge, ciabgiass,
foxtails, pigweed, \olunteei giains. night
shades and many otheis that choke out
youi alfalfa stand Eptam is easy to handle
and apply as you make youi seedbed Fi ee
youiself fiom woik and wony come by
now ioi Eptam
Dealers In Gram. Feed, Coal, Fertilizers, Etc
Unskilled and migiant |ob
holdeis will most likely be jell
ed by the unequal changes in
fiuit and vegetable labor ic
qunements
Some woikeis those who
work on snap beans, fo 1 ’ ex
ample aie going to nnd
themselves out of jobs as the
pace of mechanization picks up
in the next five years Cituu
producers, though, will need
moie help, even with more ma
chine power.
Eventually, however, adop
tion of the new technology is
going to mean a smaller, moie
stable, better paid, and moie
highly skilled work force in
fruit and vegetable production.
FUNK'S
78F
FORAGE
■Higher Yields
■ More Nutritious
■ Faster Regrowth
■ Drouth Resistant
Phone 593-5149
898-2261