>As a result, a large amount of potentially usable product is left behind (by some estimates, 40-50%). This is plowed back into the ground before the next crop goes in, providing some nutrients to the soil.

>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!X5C3!,w_1456,c_limit...

So if you're buying a romaine heart, they're just leaving the non-heart part of the lettuce on the field to rot? I didn't realize romaine hearts were that wasteful.

> We have been trying to fully automate lettuce harvesting for almost 64 hours, but we have not succeeded yet.

Years, obviously. But it gave me a chuckle.

Some crazy stats and the difficulty of automation. Robots have a long way to go to catch up with humans.