President Trump has a taste for Diet Coke. He even reinstalled the Diet Coke button on the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk to alert attending staffers to his soda hankerings. In the U.S., regular Coca-Cola uses high-fructose corn syrup, which is cheaper than cane sugar but not as healthy. Given his commitment to MAHA, Trump is encouraging the use of cane sugar.
Coca-Cola has taken the unsubtle hint. In the U.S., the company intends to transition some product to healthier ingredients by autumn (some of its foreign markets already use sugarcane). Likewise PepsiCo, who will be using prebiotic fibers and cane sugar.
Hopefully, much of the cane sugar can be sourced from markets in the U.S. (Florida, Texas, and Louisiana), rather than highly tariffed Brazil, another prolific sugar producer. That will require more farm workers, many of whom are illegal aliens. This presents a dilemma: On one horn, illegal aliens help pick our crops; on the other horn, we need to deport them expeditiously. Promises made, promises kept.
Given our labor shortage, some have proposed a special accommodation to allow illegal alien farmworkers to continue picking our crops. But there’s another way: Use more agrobots. It’s a little trickier than industrial applications, but robots are diligently improving their agricultural skills. They even have aptitude in harvesting sugarcane. Using A.I. navigation, they are remarkably precise and productive in harvesting.
These agrobots are tireless workers. They never need breaks and are not inclined to ogle at the bodacious farm lasses. That’s not in their algorithms. Just look at this one, who is having a jolly good time while attending to the sugarcane. Just keep it well oiled, and it won’t suffer backaches or fake injuries. No workers’ comp claims; no claims on any American citizens’ resources.
That’s now, but the future holds even more promising implementations for agro-robotics. Tesla’s Optimus robot can walk, talk, and handle complex activities. Optimus can operate autonomously or by tele-operation (i.e., remotely). Perhaps unlike many illegal alien farmworkers, it can converse fluently in English with pleasing intonation and diction. They respond to human commands dutifully and diligently. Farmers are already dreaming about deploying customized units in their fields.
For now, there are more rudimentary robots that can still ameliorate our farmworker shortage. There will be upfront costs, but the OBBB will ease the financial burden, including allowing expensing and bonus depreciation that provides flexibility in capital investment decisions. Furthermore, as mass production ensues, prices should drop, and then we don’t need to fret about mass deportation of illegal farmhands.
As long as the “off-switch” works and they comply, agro-robots are an optimal alternative to illegal aliens who give us nothing but agro.
Image via Raw Pixel.