Why is sugar cane still harvested manually in Brazil? I read that up to 70% of Brazil's sugar cane in the Sao Paulo area is still harvested manually. Some workers are paid $1.50 per tonne. Why is it still being cut manually? Some possibilities:

(1) farm owners lack the capital to buy mechanical harvesters

(2) human labor is cheaper

(3) regulatory or legal obstacles are blocking the use of harvesters
Although it seems that it necessarily boils down to the idea that labor is very, very cheap for some reason or another, it is often the case in these situations that workers unions, somewhat perversely, will block the firm´s replacement of labor with capital, in order to keep the workers employed.