Good to Think with

Abstract

This article focuses on the relationships between individuals along the innovation chain that made the rapid mechanization of the tomato harvest possible in 1960s California. Based on oral histories, extension documents, trade journal stories and advertising materials, it argues that two factors enabled the rapid shift from hand to machine labor. First, the Bracero Program's political fragility combined with the economic importance of California's tomato crops to produce an imagined future shortage of labor, motivating the University of California and regional growers to prioritize research on tomato mechanization. Second, mechanizing tomatoes enabled men from different backgrounds to think in ways that were highly desirable given the era's emphasis on managerial and scientific systems. These factors worked in tandem to produce a machine that could harvest tomatoes, and a desire on the part of those who made significant investments to purchase and implement those machines, before the end of Bracero labor in 1964 crystallized the economic and socio-political rewards that would follow. By emphasizing the second set of factors, the article illuminates the importance of personal rewards in the mechanization process along the innovation chain from design, development and dissemination to implementation.