(PD) - Perhaps no agricultural crop has been more associated with the work in the fields than the grape. From the Bible to John Steinbeck to Cesar Chavez, the words and images of workers toiling in the vineyards have been ingrained in literature, newsreels and history books.

It’s also a common sight throughout the year in Wine Country, from workers pruning vines in the winter to early morning harvests in the fall. Sonoma County vintners employ an estimated 5,000 people in the fields.

Increasingly, however, machines are taking over. It’s not a science fiction takeover plot, though the lights emanating from machine harvesters at night in areas such as the Alexander Valley resemble the glowing spaceships in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Rather, a tipping point has been reached in the industry, growers said, as technology advances along with a labor shortage. New regulations have driven most vineyard owners and managers to consider more machine picking with the likelihood that the workforce in future years will be much smaller.

“You are going to see more and more,” said Bret Munselle of Munselle Vineyards, which oversees about 600 acres around Alexander Valley. “With labor and water issues, you are trying to get as much machine work as can be done.”

After years of a tight labor market as a result of decreased immigration, growers have been searching for new options. Now they have even more incentives for machine work, farmers contend, with new state laws bumping the minimum wage up to $15 an hour and another requiring that farmworkers get paid overtime after working 40 hours a week or more than eight hours a day. The current standard is 10 hours a day or 60 hours a week for agricultural workers.