Laser-equipped robots to zap weeds on farmland

>"Edgar Franks, political director at the union Familias Unidas por La Justicia, based in Burlington, Washington, said that, generally speaking, the rise of automation is concerning. Farm work is grueling “because of the exploitation of labor,” he said."

Isn't that a contradiction. It's exploitation, but simultaneously automation is also concerning?

It's grueling work and we have fewer people wanting to do it. So this is not at all a bad outcome.

Yes, automation unimpeded can be detrimental. To some degree we need to ensure people have enough job --in this case, hardly anyone is clamoring for these grueling jobs. It's like ditch digging vs a backhoe.

This looks like the answer to the external problems of herbicides.

Now we just need one for mosquitoes.