Specialty Crop Mechanization

While mechanization is often touted as a solution for the declining supply of farm labor, specialty crops like fruits and vegetables are difficult to automate. Production of these specialty crops is labor intensive and there are few options available to mechanize this process.


Innovations for a Shrinking Agricultural Workforce: an article published in Choices Magazine by Diane Charlton, J. Edward Taylor, Stavros Vougioukas, and Zachariah Rutledge.

Developing Automation and Mechanization for Specialty Crops: A Review of U.S. Department of Agriculture Programs: a U.S. Department of Agriculture report to Congress by Gregory Astill, Agnes Perez, and Suzanne Thornsbury.

The U.S. Produce Industry and Labor: Facing the Future in a Global Economy: an Economic Research Report by Linda Calvin and Philip Martin.

The Status of Labor-Saving Mechanization in U.S. Fruit and Vegetable Harvesting: an article published in Choices Magazine by Wallace E. Huffman.

Automation Helps Solve Specialty Crop Challenges: a U.S. Department of Agriculture blog post by Sara Delheimer.