There’s a Better Way to Harvest Crops – No Illegal Immigrants Needed

Who is going to pick the crops if we don’t have illegal immigrants?

This question and its variations always come up when anyone suggests steps to enforce our immigration laws. It stems from the conventional wisdom that Americans simply won’t do hard and demanding work in the fields. Given the low pay and poor working conditions generally offered by growers, there is indeed much truth in this wisdom.

But the issue is a bit more complex. The fact is: most illegal aliens don’t care for farm work either. Less than five percent of them who have jobs in the United States work in agriculture, and commonly these illegal farm workers try to move on to other occupations as quickly as they can. As they move on, a new wave of desperate workers illegally enters to replace them – until they start looking for better options. And on and on, the cycle continues, one that burdens our social services while corrupting our rule of law.

Rather than let the need for farm labor justify acceptance of all illegal immigration, it would be much better to focus on ways of changing agriculture so that we can reduce this need. A country as advanced as the U.S. surely can find a more efficient way, and surely a more humane way, to harvest crops than poorly paid, back-breaking labor.

Indeed, a solution exists, and it has for quite some time. It’s the mechanization of agriculture. As one of its consequences, we no longer need masses of laborers to pick cotton because we have machines that can do it.

Admittedly we still have many crops that require a human touch and intensive labor to harvest, but today we stand on the threshold of amazing technological advances that can 1) make harvesting much easier, thereby making it a job more Americans might consider doing and 2) significantly eliminate the need for laborers.

Click here for an overview of agricultural mechanization, and a summary of new technologies, particularly robotics, which offer much promise for the future.