Another interesting development pioneered in France is the robotic approach to harvesting tree fruit like apples and oranges where the mature fruit is selected by machine vision using light reflectance, picked mechanically by the robot and conveyed pneumatically (under vacuum) to a storage pallet. Whether these exciting but expensive technologies can be successfully commercialized remains to be seen. Gantry mechanization (including harvesting) of fruits and vegetables in greenhouses has also been investigated but cost remains a difficult factor to overcome.
First, they reduce the profitability of all forms of agricultural investment, including land improvements, irrigation, animals, and buildings. Second, they may cause farmers to allocate whatever investment funds are available away from mechanical inputs. This trend will be stronger the more expensive and long-lived the mechanical inputs are and the easier it is to produce other forms of capital (such as land improvements) by hand.

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Another interesting development pioneered in France is the robotic approach to harvesting tree fruit like apples and oranges where the mature fruit is selected by machine vision using light reflectance, picked mechanically by the robot and conveyed pneumatically (under vacuum) to a storage pallet. Whether these exciting but expensive technologies can be successfully commercialized remains to be seen. Gantry mechanization (including harvesting) of fruits and vegetables in greenhouses has also been investigated but cost remains a difficult factor to overcome.
First, they reduce the profitability of all forms of agricultural investment, including land improvements, irrigation, animals, and buildings. Second, they may cause farmers to allocate whatever investment funds are available away from mechanical inputs. This trend will be stronger the more expensive and long-lived the mechanical inputs are and the easier it is to produce other forms of capital (such as land improvements) by hand.

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