Researchers are developing new technological advances that farmers and ranchers can use to become more efficient and sustainable even as the farm labor force is shrinking, reported Stacy Finz in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The story quoted Ted Batkin, the former president of the Citrus Research Board who served as a panelist at the University of California's Global Food Forum last spring. He said a robot currently under development could be used to pick citrus, apples, pears, peaches and other stone fruit.

"It's a game changer," he said. "We'll...