Machines Replace Migrants as Maine Blueberry Harvest Booms
22nd April 2016
A steady push toward mechanization in Maine’s blueberry industry is reducing the number of migrant farmers who travel to the state to rake the crop, which is vitally important to the state’s economy, state officials and industry leaders said. Maine’s blueberry harvest attracted more than 5,000 migrant farmers 10 years ago and it’s down to about 1,500 today, said David Yarborough, a University of Maine professor of horticulture.
I doubt that the machines are making $15 an hour.