Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

The United States is about to overcome France in producing extra virgin olive oil due to a new way of planting the crop and a new machine to help harvest that crop:

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/20 ... 7_ST_N.htm


This sounds really good, and I am all for the US being #1 in anything and everything. After all, I am an "American Girl".

However, I do have doubts and hesitations regarding all this. First, and foremost, I see American jobs being lost because of all this. It seems to be the same old story that we've heard so many times before.....people workers are replaced by machines that can do the work faster, perhaps more efficiently, etc., etc., etc. The machines are way more expensive, to begin with, but eventually probably make up for their outrageous prices by the ease, speed, and other factors by which they can do the job. But what about the people workers that usually hand pick these crops????? They may be forced to look to other areas of earning wages, which is already slim pickings (a little humor there) due to all the economic worries in the US right now as it is, or they may be forced to seek government assisted programs, which nobody really wants to do. It just seems like for every step of progress, there is also a step back taken.

Comments or Opinions???