existing workers hours back like what retailers such as Walmart do so as to avoid any overtime.

At this point, machines exist to perform nearly every task performed by field workers. Until the last decade, there were a number of tasks that could really only be done by hand (precise weeding around certain plants, harvesting table grapes, peaches, etc). Advances in computers and more precise harvesting equipment have now mastered those tasks, and every single crop consumed by humans can now be harvested by machines. Heck, Caterpillar has even demonstrated computer controlled tractors that can till, seed and spray fields without any human involvement whatsoever. Human free farming is a reality TODAY.

So why do we have field workers? Because the machines are expensive, and hiring field hands for a few days is cheaper than investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into a new piece of equipment. Ag mechanization companies salivate whenever they hear about changes like these, because they are hoping to reach a tipping point where the machines become the cheaper option and people are eliminated from the fields entirely. I live in the California Central Valley, and most people in ag view this as more of an eventuality than a possibility. It WILL happen. The only question is WHEN.

While I support the effort to pay farmworkers a better wage, there's really no question that doing so is contributing to the eventual elimination of their jobs. It's a pretty shitty situation. Rock, meet hard place.

to bruising but ya the corporate owned farms will probably be looking into it as an option where possible.