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The Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station requests continued funding from the United States Department of Labor - Employment and Training Administration for research to continue the development of mechanized and automated systems for the greenhouse and nursery industry. This research comprises both the determination of needs and the creation or transfer of technologies to meet current and projected industry requirements. The greenhouse and nursery industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the region’s agricultural economy; however, a major problem facing this industry is a shortage of workers, particularly skilled workers. A national survey of commercial nursery/landscape operations listed shortage of labor as the number one limitation facing the industry at the end of 2001. The shortage continues today. The geographic focus of the project is the greenhouse and nursery industry of 9 of the 12 states in the Southern United States, namely Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee have been surveyed. Texas, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Georgia will be surveyed during the remainder of this grant. Training material will be provided for the industry. The target group to be served by this project is green industry workers, directly and indirectly through the operators of the greenhouse and nursery industry, in the Gulf South. These workers are relatively unskilled laborers with minimal on-the-job training. Many will likely be Hispanic immigrants with limited knowledge of the English language. These workers may lack driver’s licenses and desirable certifications. Due to the strenuous nature of the work, the work force is primarily comprised of younger workers. The high degree of manual labor in combination with low wages leads to a high turnover rate among these laborers. Worker training in the utilization of the technologies and automated systems identified and developed through this project will be implemented in order to meet the project’s objectives of a skilled workforce. This project will provide strategies to alter the nature of the tasks required of greenhouse nursery workers to become highly skilled, requiring less manual labor such as heavy lifting, digging, handling of sharp objects, and repetitive tasks; requiring more knowledge of the use of machinery and electronics; and reducing exposure to pesticides, pests, dust, and plant materials. Successful implementation of new automated systems will create jobs with increased skill levels and higher wage rates. The main impact of this project will be to create new knowledge and technology-based jobs and improved worker safety and comfort. Growth of the industry that will accompany increased automation is expected to have a significant effect on the economy. The region has a growing population that is becoming more affluent and urbanized, as well as having the climate, soils, and location to become a major grower and supplier of ornamental crops. These two factors make the region a highly desirable site for the location of greenhouse nursery operations. Aspects of this project will develop and identify automated systems that can be adapted by the highly diverse greenhouse and nursery industry. Adoption of this technology will improve working conditions for greenhouse and nursery workers, increase worker retention, improve worker safety, increase worker productivity, improve skill levels, and create new jobs related to servicing the machinery and instrumentation. The Coastal Research and Extension Center, in cooperation with industry leaders representing the Gulf South, has identified several major areas of program focus. Together, we have developed a comprehensive set of production issues which will be addressed through the integration of applied mechanization technologies developed through this project. The overall objective of this project is to develop novel mechanization and automation technologies which will enable an increase in worker capacity and skill level. Worker safety and comfort will also be improved through the introduction of new mechanization innovations. Nursery workers’ skill levels, wage rates, safety, and overall job satisfaction will be increased. With these improvements, the labor shortage currently facing the nursery industry will decrease and worker retention will increase. More specifically, there are five focus areas being addressed through this project: 1) to examine all aspects of nursery production for automation potential, 2) to develop technology for automation of the green industry to increase worker capacity, 3) to increase automation through technology transfer, 4) to increase worker safety and comfort through the use of automated technologies, and 5) to determine the socio-economic impact of these technologies on green industry owners and workers. |
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WORKERS' SAFETY TRAINING VIDEOS |
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