On Broken Backs (Part 3)

"Digging, picking asparagus, tomatoes..."

Jose Luis and Yolanda Ochoa worked in the fields for over two decades. Both ended up disabled due to their backs, like a co-worker once predicted.

Yolanda Ochoa: "We come here for the dollars and end up with pains."

Their pain has become an obsession for Dr. Fadi Fathallah,  director of agricultural ergonomics investigations at UC Davis.

"Almost all of them complain of some kind of debilitating back pain and end up retiring early because they can no longer do the work."

It is the sad reality of one of the most ancient of occupations, which Fathallah is trying to change using the latest technology.

"With a machine like this one, that registers every movement, they were able to determine that the risk factor for grape pickers is considerably lower when they use this pan, and not this other one, which is 10 pounds heavier,"  Fathallah told me.

This automated system of loading the grapes onto trucks is also becoming more popular.

And this robot, not yet named - could soon become the greatest help for strawberry pickers who spend eight hours a day bent from the waist.

Cristina Londoño:"These sensors are also being tested; after a certain amount of bend-over's they would send a signal to the robot or the field-manager telling them the worker needs to rest."

According to Fathallah, evidence shows that five minute rests every hour, with a straight spine, also diminish the risk of injuries.

The same goal intended by the inventors of this tool that is also being tested; it relieves the back by transferring the body weight to the legs.

Joe Del Bosque, farm owner: "If people would accept it, and it does work, we could consider it."

With over 300  employees and almond, asparagus, and melon fields, he says the biggest challenge would be the cost of the new tools and technology.

But with a growing shortage of workers in the fields, it’s important to take care of the ones that haven't left.

Del Bosque: "If a treat my people better than another farm owner does, he's going to lose his workers, and I won't."

Both Del Bosque and Fathallah agree that technology is not a threat to the livelihood of agricultural workers.

Del Bosque: "There aren't machines to harvest melon, asparagus or cherries or that can prune the trees."

The biggest challenge, he says, is for those workers who work harder than machines could or would. Don't sacrifice in the fields a third of productive years.

A question to Jose Luis Ochoa: "That's where you left your youth?"

His answer: "That's where I left it."

[This story was originally published by Telemundo.]