Most of the Cost of Strawberries Is Labor Few Americans Want to Do
Labor is as much as 60 to 70 percent of strawberry production cost and 80 percent for table grapes.
This Week in Startups · Danny Bernstein left Big Tech to fund farm-bots | E2310Most of the cost of strawberries is labor for what Danny Bernstein calls "jobs that domestic workers do not want to do."
Danny Bernstein, who spent 10 years at Google and now runs Reservoir Farms, a farm technology incubator in Salinas, California, cites American Farm Bureau data that more than 400,000 farm jobs were posted in 2025 and fewer than 1 percent drew a domestic applicant.
Labor is as much as 60 to 70 percent of strawberry production cost, and 80 percent for table grapes.
Bernstein says the idea that young people want these outdoor jobs is romanticized, and the data show domestic workers categorically do not want the work.
He says imported workers on H-2A visas do not scale as growers try to expand production, so technology is what scales.
The reason is physical. Picking stone fruit in 110-degree summer heat is punishing work in extreme heat that people do to support their families.
He calls strawberry harvest the white whale of farm technology.
Questions people ask
What is Reservoir Farms?
Reservoir Farms is a pre-seed and seed incubator for farm technology built around access to working farmland. It operates about 40 acres in Salinas, California, plus other farms, where insured startups can test prototypes immediately.
What is an H-2A visa?
The H-2A program lets American farms hire foreign workers for seasonal jobs when domestic workers are unavailable. Growers must apply in advance and provide housing, transportation, and a set wage, which makes the program paperwork heavy and hard to expand quickly.