Adventure Ausrama Blog

If labor costs are high in a country it is necessary to turn to technology to efficiently do the job. Australian farmers have been world leaders in applying technology to tasks. Thus, there is an increasing demand for skilled labor on farms. This obviously goes against tradition. A new app for farmers has been released called iHerd . The app keeps an eye on cattle as they move around. Tracking is much easier. Gathering of cattle into yards is reduced. Cattle have monitoring tabs fitted to them. As they come in to drink, tags are identified and weight is taken. Animals of a certain weight can then be selected out. An important benefit is that the knowledge has improved production of healthy cattle. Of course, farmers themselves have to learn new skills. This they are doing very well indeed. New technology is being adopted and applied rapidly. A more technologically based farming sector could attract skilled young people back to the land. This is not a goal, t...

There is a problem with the call for improvement in productivity. Those calling for it will not be the ones working harder. The experiment was tried in the 1970s when many UK factories moved in the time and motion guys and started timing machinists. Unions and workers saw them coming, however. Before they even got going unions tied management down with a new contract that guaranteed workers would not be put on a lower rate if the business ran out of orders. They would be paid at the previous month's average rate when walking around doing very little.  This was done to make sure employees would not lose income due to them working harder. Furthermore, when foremen, leading hands and motion "experts" started milling around a machine workers knew what was about to happen. An older naturally slower machinists was soon moved in and lathe speeds were reduced.  Considering the motion timers had never seen capstan lathes before this was an easy trick. It took severa...