Humans To Be Put Out To Pasture In Favor Of Robot Farm Workers

Mmmmyyyaaammmmnnnyyyaaaammm...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/robots-revolutionize-farming-ease-labor-woes-142756655.html

Blinders?

Show me the farmers that will be able to insure all of their workers, or afford a $2000 per person hit.

They are doing exactly what they have to do to survive.

The federal government, venture capital companies and commodity boards have stepped up with funding.

Amazing!!!

The government is funding robots, even as they refuse to close the border and instead, work to secure amnesty for illegals. They're so smart.

Yes, blinders.

You think this was all started after 2008?

Of course not.

Democrats have been working on the creation and perpetuation of the welfare class, for decades.

The failure to secure our borders, amnesty for illegals, and the loss of jobs that stem from Obamacare, will create the next wave of government dependents...all according to plan. They will vote for the people that promise them entitlement benefits free stuff.

"The failure to secure our borders, amnesty for illegals, and the loss of jobs that stem from" bank fraud stock market manipulation, greed and corruption are not the exclusive work of Democrats.

Apparently, when in power, the Republicans are too bust giving tax breaks to the rich who pay them off to right any of the wrongs brought on by those pesky Democrats?

You're right, both parties practice corporatism and crony capitalism.

Our entire tax code, (thousands of pages), is about carving out loopholes for the people that are friends of the politicians. It's always been that way.

You mean our Government is 'pro business'?!?! Oh the horror! ....but wait a minute, isn't 'pro business' good for job creation?...and isn't job creation needed to build a strong middle class?....and isn't that what you're claiming is being destroyed?....The fact that unskilled or repetitive task workers are being replaced is due to technology advancement...it has nothing to do with politics

If you honestly think that it requires tens of thousands of pages of tax code to take some money from people, I'm wasting my friggin time by even replying.

The fact that unskilled or repetitive task workers are being replaced is due to technology advancement...it has nothing to do with politics.

Not very familiar with how business runs, eh?

You would be amazed at the impact that politics has on business. It's far more than I can explain to you here.

If I ever needed any explanation from you on your viewpoints, all I have to do is read the same spin doctor websites that you do....you don't seem to have any original thoughts based on independent research and/or insight arrived at by an objective logical thought process, just rehashed misquoted drivel from biased talking heads....nothing is as simple as you would have people believe....except maybe your thinking....

Hey admin.,

Tell the person that's putting up these completely biased articles, to just shut off the comments, rather than running around assigning OTs to comments that they don't agree with. It's becoming a pain in the a**...just like last time.

It's bad enough coming from the members, without admin manipulating post ratings, based on their own opinions.

Thanks.

I'm ready to retire and have someone or something else take care of me.

At least our android overlords thinking will be driven by logic engines so people like me with diversified technical fix it skills will be seen as valuable.

....or at least your brain will be.....lol

"You will tell us the answer or will connect you to your wife's brain again!!" ..."NO no anything but that!"

The statement toward the beginning of the article shows the bias of the authors;

"Next, the price-gouging, genetically-modified seed corporation Monsanto played out its costly, destructive drama on the national stage."

It sounds like they have a huge axe to grind. Change is inevitable. Change has always been with us in mankinds civilization. One of the greatest skills that man has is the ability to adapt to the surrounding environments; economically, socially, technologically, etc. I heard it said one time that "many industries are one technology shift away from extinction." The buggy makers and the carbeuretor makers are out of business as mainstream industries due to changes in industry, consumer needs/wants, etc.

Even with Auto-Steer or robot devices etc. you still need people to service them, program them, fill the planter boxes, etc. Maybe the role of the farmer continues to change and the skill sets expand to include more technology.

We always have to be adaptable and figure out ways to fit into the new environments. My brother-in-law farms with big equipment. He uses sprayers that are 120' wide, planters that are 24 or 30 rows wide. Gone are the days of the 6 row planters, the 2-bottom plows and little Spray Coupes.

If, for ANY reason, genetically-modified seed that had its origin with the Monsanto corporation, ends up on your property, you are considered a thief and have to surrender the crops grown from it and probably monetary damages, as well.

I think that's nothing more than a gift from our government, purchased by Monsanto's cash contributions to lobbyists and politicians.

Axe to grind? Yep!

I'm not sure I see how this is any different from a project that you would work on where you design, patent, engineer and manufacture a piece of equipment and then expect that your investment of time, money and effort be protected?

Just because it has to do with the design, patenting, engineering and manufacturing of a seed doesn't make it any less propietary.

No one is forcing anyone to use any particular kind of seed whether it is Monsanto, Channel, DeKalb, Adams or a host of other seed companies.

This is what is called capitalism where people with vision, money, time and drive seek to come up with new products or intersectional innovation within a product to make something perform in a different, hopefully better way that will attract customers because of its performance.

I both agree that the article was slanted, and, that Monsanto is not a good company.

Not only have their practices been monopolistic, but they have enjoyed the full protection of both political parties.

You fail to grasp the point that even if the wind blows the seeds from an inadequately fenced/protected area onto the neighbor's land, Monsanto, et al can take the seeds, etc. without any compensation to the innocent neighbor.

It's very much different from protection of intellectual property rights. I have no quarrel with that. It's just that without the passage of convoluted laws, favorable to large contributors, these injustices would not occur.

Yep. It's happened to people out by my brother.

Monsanto pollen gets into non-GM fields, and cross pollinates with someone else's crops, and Monsanto is able to have the people's entire crop destroyed due to intellectual property rights. It's sick.

...." has proceeded to trial with only 11.^[363] Although in some of those 11 cases, a defense of unintentional contamination by gene flow was used, Monsanto won all 11 cases.^[363] Monsanto Canada's Director of Public Affairs has stated that "It is not, nor has it ever been Monsanto Canada's policy to enforce its patent on Roundup Ready crops when they are present on a farmer's field by accident...Only when there has been a knowing and deliberate violation of its patent rights will Monsanto act."^[364]

One example of such litigation is the Monsanto v. Schmeiser case.^[365] This case is widely misunderstood: "The fear about a company claiming ownership of a farmer's crop based on the inadvertent presence of GM pollen grain or seed is...widespread and ...unfounded."^[366] In 1997, Percy Schmeiser, a canola breeder and grower in Bruno, Saskatchewan, discovered that a section of one of his fields contained canola that was resistant to herbicide Roundup by spraying it with Roundup, leaving only the resistant plants. He had not purchased roundup-resistant canola; it was apparently sown from seed blown onto his land from neighboring fields. He later harvested the seed from this area; he did not sell it but rather saved it in the back of a pickup truck.^{[365]:para 61 & 62} After the 1997 harvest and before the 1998 planting, Monsanto representatives visited Schmeiser and informed him of Monsanto's patent and that planting Roundup resistant canola would infringe the patent, and offered him a license, which Schmeiser refused.^{[365]:para 63[367]} According to the Canadian Supreme Court, after this conversation "Schmeiser nevertheless took the harvest he had saved in the pick-up truck to a seed treatment plant and had it treated for use as seed. Once treated, it could be put to no other use. Mr. Schmeiser planted the treated seed in nine fields, covering approximately 1,000 acres in all....A series of independent tests by different experts confirmed that the canola Mr. Schmeiser planted and grew in 1998 was 95 to 98 percent Roundup resistant."^{[365]:para 63-64} After further negotiations between Schmeiser and Monsanto broke down, Monsanto sued Schmeiser for patent infringement and prevailed in the initial case. Schmeiser appealed and lost, and appealed again to the Canadian Supreme Court, which in 2004 ruled 5 to 4 in Monsanto's favor, stating that "it is clear on the findings of the trial judge that the appellants saved, planted, harvested and sold the crop from plants containing the gene and plant cell patented by Monsanto."^{[365]:para 68"}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food_controversies#Escape_of_GM_crops

I don't know what's going on in Canada, but of course they're going to win court cases in the US. They have the politicians in their pockets, and the politicians appoint the judges.

http://www.dailytech.com/Monsanto+Defeats+Small+Farmers+in+Critical+Bioethics+Class+Action+Suit/article24118.htm

It won't be too much longer, and non-GMO crops will no longer exist.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/organic-farmers-cant-fight-monsanto-patents-in-court/

Sorry but they just aren't that big....

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=MON+Key+Statistics

http://www.corporateinformation.com/Top-100.aspx?topcase=b

For whatever reason, they sure do yield a lot of power.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/13/monsanto-squeezes-out-see_n_390354.html

I'm sure it's only grown since the president appointed their former chief council as "food safety czar" for the entire country.

Given their involvement in agent orange, it's quite possible that they are involved in secret biological/chemical warfare projects. I doubt we'll ever know.

They're only doing it to for the good of mankind.

I sure don't like the loss of control of the crops, through cross pollination.

Regardless of whether it's good or bad, they have let a genie out of the bottle, that will never be put back in. GM traits are here to stay, until the end of time.

It's irresponsible, and it's something the government should have prevented.

Now that we're moving to robotics in farming, imagine how much more environmentally sound it would be, to use robots to pluck and kill weeds, rather than having to use ever increasing amounts of glyphosate?

How do you keep all your conspiracy theories straight?

http://humanbeingsfirst.blogspot.com/p/tutorial-du-jour.html

I have no idea what that link is about.

As others have mentioned, your sycophantic love for Monsanto is disgusting.

I would hardly characterize posting a wiki link as an act of love....but rather the voice of reason...However your overstatement is typical...and I might add the trademark of a fanatic....

There are millions that don't like Monsanto, and many countries have banned the Roundup ready crops and predatory contracts that Monsanto uses. Apparenty they don't use wiki to make policy decisions.

Or are you going to tell me that I'm lying?

Well most of these picking jobs are done by illegals now, wouldn't this reduce illegal immigration....Looks like a win win to me...

http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2013/07/robot-lettuce-pickers-and-the-future-of-farming.html

Yes. I agree.

Due to the US economy, many are already heading home. They don't make as much money there, but there is work.

Unfortunately, there appears to be an interest in keeping the ones here, that don't want to work.

"Unfortunately, there appears to be an interest in keeping the ones here, that don't want to work."

It's called "power". Anytime one can exert power over others by controlling the purse strings they then have a willing accomplice or ally. I heard it said one time that "anytime you rob Peter to pay Paul you'll always have the enthusiastic support of Paul." Bastiast's Law says it is the tendancy of people to do as little as possible for the greatest amount of payback. But it is also true that a man may live and satisfy his wants by seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others. This process is the origin of plunder. Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain - and since labor is pain in itself - it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work.

That's what is so terrribly critical for people/citizens to understand where their freedoms come from (they don't come from the government) the ramifications of being free and what freedoms they give up in exchange for something for free.

Just taking away jobs done by illegal or making them less available will NOT send illegals home. NO, really come on... look at what anyone can get that comes to this country versus what an American can get going to any OTHER country. In my 20 years of military service (an even since when I have been outside the country) the SAME opinion of Americans exists. That is that we are the DUMB FAT Americans! AND we do Little if ANYTHING TO PROVE OTHERWISE! We let criminals come to this country and claim they are being persecuted (yeah for BREAKING THE LAW) but we give them OUR SOCIAL Programs that ARE ALREADY over taxed. Or even worse $100,000 interest free loans (for 10 years)! What the heck???

So even as we take away some... that THEY SHOULD NOT BE GETTING IN THE FIRST PLACE.... There is STILL SO MUCH that we have to FIX!!

I was wandering, from links to links, in step-stone fashion, starting from a campus newsletter, and saw this article about Monsanto. Since it's hard to discuss farming without their name coming up, I thought its content might be of interest. Then another stone I landed on was an interesting article about spiders that make fake spiders. (Brings Bower birds to mind.) Enjoy.

The first article was good, and crossbreeding is a good thing.

I don't even have a problem with genetic modification, if it's safe.

My big issue with the Roundup ready stuff, (beyond the fact that it is failing and requires ever higher levels of glyphasate), is the total irresponsibility in the way and degree to which it was introduced, on the part of both Monsanto, and our government.

It's now become completely uncontained, has crossed with non-GM varieties, and will be around forever. That's a very dangerous way to experiment with something as important as our food supply. It's just wrong.

Agreed. Except I don't like the idea of the ability to "own" any living organism.

That's problematic, but I have to err on the side of being able to patent GM organisms, or even the results of years of cross breeding...otherwise, there is no reason to try to make things better.

However, our government has a very serious responsibility to prevent this stuff from being introduced willy nilly. They completely blew it with the Roundup ready stuff, and continue to. If they aren't going to represent the people, there's really no need to have these regulatory agencies around.

Sadly, that (incentive being necessary) may be true. But I would still hold up the idea of altruism... like your signature. Realistic? Probably not. But one can always hold to and shoot for the highest ideal.

Well, for the most part, that's the way it's gone with food crops...I think. People cross breed to produce different qualities, sell the seeds, but then people can use the seeds that are produced from their own crop.

For me, it's easier just to buy new seeds every year.

In typical patent law, farmers should be able to use the seeds that are produced from their crop, as long as they don't sell the seeds themselves, for profit. What we are witnessing, is a particular brand of corporate cronyism out of Washington, in which farmers are not even allowed to save any seed from one year to the next, and are forced to buy new seed from Monsanto.

This would be like selling a patented 3D printing machine, and laying claim to everything it produced.

This is creating a government condoned monopoly, in which, not only are the seeds patented, but the farmers must also use Monsanto herbicides for weed control. The government should not be in the business of helping a few companies thrive, over all others, and drastically reducing our food choices in the process.

The ability to patent plant varieties shouldn't be a huge deal, and in a perfect world, would lead to more variety, better taste, bigger yields, etc. Unfortunately, we've got a government that is complicit in criminal behavior, when they should be stopping it.

If you don't like the idea of patented seed, just think about when the patents run out.

We'll have people crossing and reproducing all types of glyphosate tolerant seed, farmers buying generic glyphosate weed killers, and all of it will be completely unregulated, because our government says it's all safe...based on Monsanto studies.