Grapes are mechanically harvested to make wine. Stephen Colbert testified before Congress that ag workers have to bend to the ground to pick fruit. This is false.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_harvesting#Mechanical_harvesting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvest_%28wine%29
“In Australia, the reduced work force in the wine industry has made the use of mechanized labor almost a necessity.[1]“
yet Australian wines are considered very good.
Youtube Mechanical Harvesting grapes to make wine-Australia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu0_QikRh9k
You can see grapes mechanically harvested at the above link.
The search
grapes mechanical harvester
at Youtube brings up more scenes of grapes being mechanically harvested.
Grapes require delicate handling to harvest. One can see on the video that the mechanical harvesters work.
NC Grape Harvest: Foster Family Vineyards and Harvesting :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yz8szKcq7k&feature=related
Mechanical berry picker with narration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WudVjE4U2U
Raspberry harvester
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDXC3EqF6XA&feature=related
White person harvesting by hand, but they ride along a mechanical device that
moves them along quickly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOhR0LEkHE8
One can pick the fruit to plant based on what is easier to harvest with machines. So some fruits are cheaper or work better with machines and those are cheaper and more abundantly available if the price of hand picking is higher, e.g. not using migrant labor from 3rd world countries. The expense of that labor is off loaded to the local and state government. The use of harvesting machines does not overload school systems nor does it mean that teacher pensions have to be cut or prisons overfull or that drunk migrants will mow down Americans in cars.
