Still not making any sense. If These farms were so automated, why do so many Idaho school districts still let out of school for 2-3 weeks in September/October for Potato Harvest? Not wheat harvest, not sugar beet harvest, but Potato harvest. I think if schools are still letting out school for weeks, I believe spud farmers are probably still hiring a few vine/dirt clod/rock pickers, truck drivers, tractor drivers,etc. to justify large school districts to shut down 2-3 weeks into the new school year just for a few farmers who "never step foot in their field all year". We're not talking high schools w/ 50 kids 9th-12th grade. I'm talking high schools in Idaho w/ 400-500+ kids 9th-12th grade. Again, spuds aren't just walking themselves cleaned and packaged to Walmart.

Your claim that a farmer can grow a crop today without setting foot in his field is absurd. That's like saying a surgeon doesn't have to step foot in the surgery room all year anymore and patients are cured.

Yes tech has impacted spud farmers like previously mentioned. Farmers, despite being on average typically an older demographic that typically is tech adverse, are some of the quickest adapters to tech. GPS-steered tractors are the greatest example of that. Like I said--adapt or die. But whether it's spuds in Idaho or lettuce in California, good old American hand to hand labor is gonna be required to get food from a field to the grocery store.

Lastly I'm interested in all these "potato mission presidents" and why that's proof of your point? Somehow Brigham Young & Heber C Kimball & 100's of other brethren managed to leave the farm for a few years to serve a mission back in the day. Seems plausible that a modern day farmer in much more favorable circumstances than the early missionaries of the church could leave someone else in charge for a few years to serve a mission.