Availability of labor will determine how quickly orchard automation is adopted, says Denny Hayden. A widespread shortage of workers to harvest Washington State’s 2011 apple crop could prompt growers to look to technology to reduce their labor needs. The labor issue is the defining issue for the industry and will determine the pace and track that automation is going to take,” said Denny Hayden, a grower in Pasco, Washington, who has been dabbling with labor-saving technologies for a decade or more. Washington apple growers, who depend largely on migrant Mexican workers to pick their crops, faced widespread labor shortages last […]