Labor Market Snapshot

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1 Labor Market Snapshot Large farming companies are helping to champion the robotic solutions by sometimes becoming strategic investors in the technology firms and by participating in testing of the next-generation farm equipment. It comes as advancements in processor speeds also have paved the way for robotics to become more practical and cost effective. From strawberries to apples, a wave of agriculture robotics may ease the farm labor crunch. Robotic machines to pick everything from strawberries to apples are being tested and could one day help ease the farm labor crunch. Another agricultural technology in development involves small robot fleets operating in swarms. However, robotics won't steal all the farm jobs in the future but could be disruptive, according to experts. Some farmers are responding to the worsening farm labor shortageby turning to automated harvesting equipment and other advanced technology that perform tasks such as pruning, seeding and weeding. Robotic harvesting vehicles are being tested in Florida and California to pick strawberries and replace labor-intensive tasks normally performed by dozens of farm workers. "We're seeing more and more of a move towards just technology in general, whether it's robotics or mechanization," said wine grape grower Ryan Jacobsen, CEO of the Fresno County Farm Bureau. "We've seen some incredible improvements there, and for us to remain competitive in California just because of so many areas of cost and the lack of needed individuals to help us bring in the harvest we're going to have to rely upon this technology." Farm labor shortage Last year was an especially tight year for farm labor supply in California's largest agricultural region, the San Joaquin Valley, and arguably the tightest year the region has seen in a decade, according to industry executives. The state's $45 billion agriculture industryproduces about half of the nation's fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts. For many years, the hired farm labor force in California has been composed of mostly immigrants,

2 Labor Market Snapshot Cont. from page 1 many without full or proper documentation, according to Daniel Sumner, a University of California at Davis professor of agricultural and resource economics. However, he said, the flow of farm workers has been gradually declining and stepped-up immigration sweeps by the federal government in California haven't helped. Other companies are also looking to enter the strawberry space with robotic harvesters, given that labor costs for the domestic strawberry industry approach about $1 billion annually, and equipment is seen as competitive with human harvest costs. Regardless, experts say robotics won't steal all the farm worker jobs in the future, even for more repetitive tasks. Still, it could be a disruptive technology even for those who may resist the change. It could also alter the traditional way growers operate. Similarly, it may require farmers to hire highly skilled people to operate or maintain the advanced technology. Harvest Croo's robotic harvester is being tested now in Florida and uses vision sensors and software to scan plants and locate ripe berries. It uses advanced equipment designed to avoid bruising or damaging the soft fruit. The company also has other strawberry picking platforms being built with Ramsay Highlander, a pioneer in lettuce harvesting equipment, and at least one will be tested this year in California. "I don't think automation or robotics will ever replace the farm worker," said Tom Nassif, CEO of Western Growers, the trade association for agricultural producers in the West and Southwest. "It will certainly cut down on the number of people we need to plant, thin and harvest our crops." Similarly, Spain-based Agrobot has been testing a strawberry harvester machine in Driscoll's berry field in Oxnard, California. Driscoll's, which grows berries in nearly two dozen countries, also is one of the investors in Harvest Croo, a competitor of Agrobot. For more on this story go to ROBOTICS-HOLDS-POTENTIAL-TO-EASE-FARM-LABOR- CRUNCH.HTML

3 May 2018 Snapshot Top Six Digital Transformation Trends In Agriculture by Daniel Newman In recent years, technology in agriculture, also known as AgTech has rapidly changed the industry. In 2015, the industry s investment in technology reached a whopping $4.6 billion and that was three years ago! However, our population is continuing to grow, which has the potential to affect resource availability going forward. In recent studies, it was found that the industry s output must increase by 60% by How do we do it? People in the industry farmers, food producers must embrace the digital transformation trends in agriculture. By using technology as a sustainable and scalable resource, we will be able to take agriculture to new heights, keeping farm to fork in our future. IOT (Internet of Things) and Sensors in the Field The IOT is disrupting the agriculture industry in a good way. In fact, there is extreme potential for using the IOT within the food sector. According to a report by Cisco, there is an estimated $14.4 trillion in value at stake with the emergence of IOT alone. The IOT is simplifying and streamlining the collection, inspection and overall distributing of agricultural resources using sensors on equipment and materials. IOT and Sensors in Equipment Much like the technology within the field, sensors are being placed on agricultural equipment to track the health of the machine and more. Using the term precision agriculture tractors and other farming equipment are being manufactured with navigation systems and a variety of sensors. Some of these sensors are built with the capability to compensate for uneven terrain using GPS. Some are built for yield mapping and harvest documentation, right from the cab of the implement. Drones and Crop Monitoring When you re working in your garden, you can typically see all of your plants at once, but farmers work in fields that span hundreds of acres meaning the only way they ve been able to get a bird s eye view is from a plane. Imagine the return on investment if farmers could visualize their crops using an aerial source without having to charter a plane. Drones are being used for crop monitoring widely across the U.S. as a means to combat drought and other harmful environmental factors. Farming and Robotics Much like using robots and artificial intelligence in other industries, robotics within agriculture would improve productivity and would result in higher and faster yields. Such robots like the spraying and weeding robots recently acquired by John Deere can reduce agrochemical use by an incredible 90%. RFID Sensors and Tracking After crops are harvested, RFID sensors can be used to track food from the field to the store. The end user, or the consumer, will be able to follow a detailed trail about the food they consume from the farm it came to the location where it was purchased. Machine Learning & Analytics Perhaps one of the most innovative pieces of the digital transformation is the ability to use machine learning and advanced analytics to mine data for trends. This can start way before the planting of the seed, with plant breeders. Machine learning can predict which traits and genes will be best for crop production, giving farmers all over the world the best breed for their location and climate.

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5 The unemployment rate in Monterey County was 4.8 percent (11,000 unemployed) in July 2018, down from a revised 5.2 percent in June 2018, and below the year-ago estimate of 5.4%. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 4.4 percent for California and 4.1% for the nation during the same period. Source: EDD Labor Market Information Department August 2018

6 Industry Snapshot The largest sector in Monterey County, California is Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting, employing 55,484 workers. The next-largest sectors in the region are Health Care and Social Assistance (21,886 workers) and Accommodation and Food Services (21,841). High location quotients (LQs) indicate sectors in which a region has high concentrations of employment compared to the national average. The sectors with the largest LQs in the region are Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting (LQ = 19.68), Public Administration (1.45), and Accommodation and Food Services (1.20). Source: Jobs EQ August 2018