[shrubble]

There are some things that are harvested by hand; even in those cases, you can watch a typical process and determine the small labor component.

Asparagus for example is harvested in less than 20 seconds per bunch. Even at $50/hour that is a cost of less than 30 cents per bunch; which sells for how much in the store?

1000s of workers harvest over 9 billion pounds of apples every year-again the labor component is smaller than you’d think.

[busterarm]

Oh I agree with you. I'm not saying the labor component is necessarily expensive, I'm just stating the obvious that for many crops they are still human labor intensive.

Asparagus harvesting may be fast, but you have to do it every day. You have to keep people employed throughout the entire season. There isn't just a few-week harvesting period.

You can't just mechanize everything.