The Status of Labor- saving Mechaniza7on in Fruits and Vegetables

Transcription

1 The Status of Labor- saving Mechaniza7on in Fruits and Vegetables By Wallace E. Huffman C.F. Cur3ss Dis3nguished Professor Iowa State University

2 A. Introduc7on - The end of the Bracero program in 1964 signaled reduced harvest labor for U.S. fruit and vegetable growers - In an7cipa7on of this event The U. of CA- Davis began research to develop new tomato varie7es, a mechanical harvester, and a vine separator In of these machines were sold and with further innova7ons they have been very successful with processing tomatoes The U. of FL began research on a mechanical processing orange harvester, but this technology system has met will linle success machines create significant temporary damage to trees growers are very nega7ve, although might be profitable - Objec7ve: to examine the status of labor- saving mechaniza7on in U.S. fruit and vegetable harves7ng

3 Mechanical harves7ng has a number of advantages: reduced harves7ng costs elimina7on of problems assoc with finding and magt harvest labor permits longer harvest days reduces exposure to human- carried bacteria Commercial harvesters for processing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, tart cherries, berries, apples, grapes, peaches, and plums are in the hands of growers To my surprise, fresh market sweet cherry, apple and berry harvesters are in late stage development

4 B. Principles for Success with Mechaniza7on: the Processing Tomato Harvester - At U. of CA- Davis new research on a processing tomato variety, on a mechanical harvester and on a mechanical vine separator was underway in the 1950s and early 1960s, culmina7ng in a U- CA patent on a mechanical tomato harvester, licensed to Blackwelder Co and and a few machines sold in 1964 and 262 machines sold in These early machines s7ll used 12 hand sorters riding the machine but reduced harvest labor costs by roughly 50%, but significant fruit loss - In late 1970s, an electronic color sorter was installed on these machines and they greatly improved the efficiency of the harvester, further reducing hand sorters to four per machine (See Fig 1) - The cost of harves7ng processing tomatoes has been reduced to 12% of the cost of produc7on, or $8 per ton vs $86/t for hand harvested tomatoes - The Johnson tomato harvesters by the California Tomato Machinery Co cost about $420,000 but have harves7ng capacity of 70 tons per hours and are operated in 2, 10- hour shias (See Figure 2)

5 Figure 1. Typical harvest labor use and annual produc3on of processing tomatoes in California, (Thompson and Blank 2000).

6 Figure 2. Self- propelled Johnson mechanical harvester - CA processing tomatoes

7 C. Other Mechanical Harvesters for Processing Fruit and Vegetable Harves7ng 1. Tomatoes Pik Rite Model 190 a tractor drawn low capacity machine (30-40 t/hr) Est ed harves7ng cost of $50 per ton Pik Rite Model HC 290 a tractor drawn high capacity machine (70-80 t/hr) See Figures 3 and 4 2. Cucumbers, Carrots and Peppers See Figure 5 Cucumber harvester Harvester has roller chains spaced to separate medium size cucumbers from the large ones which are lea in the field

8 Figure 3. Pik Rite 190 mechanical tomato harvester tractor drawn

9 Figure 4. Pik Rite HC290 mechanical tomato harvester

10 Figure 5. Pik Rite mechanical cucumber harvester

11 3. Tree Fruit Frequent hand harvested on a ladder with a bag, bin below (Fig. 6) New shake and shake- and- catch machines But harves7ng cost are not large for CA peaches, plums and oranges for the fresh market Florida oranges for processing Total harves7ng cost with hand picking is $282/ton ($253/t opr) & Picking and Roadsiding is $120/ton or $42% of total Poten7al for mechanical harves7ng Tree trunk shake and catch machines (Fig 7) Tree canopy shake system rota7ng bats (Fig 8 & 9) Tree canopy shake (2 sets of bats) with catch table (Fig 10) with a GPS system (Fig 11) Mechanical harves7ng would save about 12%, but complex Tree trunk, branches, blossoms, & leaf damage Valencia orange trees have two seasons of fruit at one 7me Need selec7ve loosening agent abscission Less than 10 of acreage mechanically harvested Growers oppose

12 Figure 6. Hand- picked citrus harves3ng

13 Figure 7. Coe- Collier trunk shaker and receiver harves3ng oranges in Florida

14 Figure 8. OXBO tractor drawn tree canopy shaker harves3ng oranges in Florida fruit falls on ground

15 Figure 9. Korvan tree canopy shaker with fruit falling onto ground

16 Figure 10. OXBO fruit tree canopy shaker with catching table

17 Figure 11. Coe GPS guided mechanical fruit harvester

18 con7nued: Tart Cherry tree harvester shake, catch and covey (Fig 12) Wine grape harvester (Fig 13 & 14) 6. Berry harvesters Mechanical berry picker raspberries, blackberries and blueberries (Fig 15 and 16)

19 Figure 12. Mechanical tart cherry tree harvester shake, catch and convey

20 Figure 13. Korvan mechanical (wine) grape harvester

21 Figure 14. Korvan wine grape harvester

22 Figure 15. Korvan mechanical berry picker raspberries and blueberries.

23 Figure 16. Korvan mechanical berry (raspberry, blueberry) harvester

24 D. Mechanical Harvesters for Fresh Market Fruit and Berries Sweet cherries 2- part self- propelled machine, one part on each side of tree The harvester has a high density rubber arm that bumps fruit to dislodge it Both units have an included to the middle catchment tables made of mechanical conveyors with a soa catching surface draped over rollers Design intercepts falling fruit and propels it along slowly with minimal damage, and fan blows away leaves and trash, fruit is conveyed into two slowly rota7ng boxes (Fig. 17) Groves need new tree- architecture and stemless cherries result when fruit loosening agent is applied, which creates a new product Minimal damage to fresh market cherries less than hand harvested Apples similar technology (Fig 18)

25 Figure 17. Mechanical fresh market sweet cherry tree harvester shake and gently catch and transfer, WSU and USDA- ARS (late experimental stage)

26 Figure 18. Mechanical fresh market apple harvester - gently shake, catch and transport, WSU and ARS (late experimental stage

27 Berry Harvester BEI Black Ice Harvester for fragile berries Machine uses jets of air to dislodge fruit by crea7ng a local turbulent environment around the berry bush No direct contact with berries, minimal contact with bush Bushes can be repeatedly harvested around ripen berries Fruit quality meets or exceed hand harvested and is lower in bacteria counts Machines cost $150,000 to $200,000 and may be generally available to grower in 2011 from BEI Interna7onal (Fig 19 & 20)

28 Figure 19. BEI Interna3onal, BEI Black Ice air jet berry harvester air jet turbulence

29 Figure 20. BEI Interna3onal, Black Ice Harvester for berries using air jets

30 E. A Perspec7ve on the Future of Mechaniza7on Mechaniza7on of the future will be driven largely by benefit- cost considera7ons, includeing compe77veness of the U.S. Mechaniza7on is a work in progress with innova7ons and improvements of machines, crop varie7es and cultural prac7ces Old orchards do not have a architecture that permits mechanical harves7ng, but it is difficult for growers to destroy old orchards and replace with new stock that will take 3-5 years to reach peak produc7on Fresh market harvesters that are cost effec7ve are on the horizon for sweet cherries, apples and berries Mechaniza7on could move forward rapidly if harvest labor became difficult and more costly to obtain