Coffee farms have been adopting the microterraces system, a technique that reduces the effect of the slope by moving the soil between the crop lines. In this way, all the mechanized operations can be carried out normally, except for harvesting, due to the work limitation of the harvesters, who work in areas with a maximum slope of 20%. One option is to use unilateral harvesters, which crop one side at a time; however, there has been no research on these microterrace machines to evaluate their performance and to compare it with those of the other harvesting methods in those regions. This study aimed to compare the mechanized harvest performance in the microterraces with the manual and semimechanized harvesting methods. The study was carried out in an agricultural area of the municipality of Ouro Fino / MG, Brazil, in a crop production site where the microterraces were built six years before the experiment. The treatments were assigned to a split-block design with seven repetitions and consisted of mechanized harvest—unilateral harvester with bag storage; manual harvest—regionally experienced workers; and semimechanized harvest—with portable breakers. Through an analysis of the times and movements, the operational efficiency and operational and effective field capabilities were measured. The adoption of microterraces allows the efficient mechanization of areas previously impossible to mechanize. The unilateral harvester is a potential tool for the partial replacement of manual labor in the harvest, performing a service equivalent to that of 23.68 manual workers and 10.55 manual workers in the semimechanized system.

Aim of study: Unavailability, coupled with the burden of labor for agricultural services nowadays, has made the mechanization process of harvesting of fallen coffee (Coffea arabica L.) essential. Although this operation has essential importance, it is often not monitored and executed in search of extreme quality. Considering the search for higher profits, this study aimed to analyze the performance of a coffee picker in three passes in an area in order to collect and process all the material and its economic viability.Area of study: The experiment was carried out in July 2017 in the Brazilian Cerrado, in the municipality of Presidente Olegário, Minas Gerais, Brazil, at Fazenda Gaúcha/Café.Material and methods: The amount of gathered coffee was equivalent to 600 kg ha−1 of processed coffee. The data from 2017 were used to analyze the economic viability of the picking operation. Treatments were distributed in split-blocks with three passes of the picking machine. The analyzed variables were picking and cleaning efficiency, picking losses, and percentage of vegetal and mineral impurities.Main results: Coffee losses reached the minimum level in the third pass. However, the harvesting operation could be carried out at most twice in the same area from the economic point of view under the evaluated conditions.Research highlights: Mechanized picking of coffee can be performed at most twice in the same area, providing a positive economic return.

Core Ideas The harvest performance can be affected by plant phenological behavior, non‐uniform fruit ripening, late harvest, pests and diseases, rods vibration intensity, displacement velocity and, finally, slope. After harvesting, the approximately 10–20% of coffee cherries that fall on the ground are known as the sweeping coffee and require a gathering operation. The mechanical sweeping and gathering allow higher operational capacity (working greater areas in shorter times), thus increasing profitability and reducing operational costs, however, these machines are sensitive to oscillation and/or soil topography. In addition to this limiting factor, one of the main obstacles to mechanical picking of sweeping coffee is the subsoiling operation that consists of unpacking the soil by moving the soil surface of the coffee interlines, where the coffee berries are to be harvested later . In this context, assuming that the subsoiling operation could affect the losses during the mechanical picking of sweeping coffee, this study aimed at using the SPC tools to monitor the ability of management processes to reduce losses in the sweeping and mechanical picking of fallen coffee for four soil managements. The mechanical sweeping and picking of coffee berries are necessary to recover berries that naturally fall on the soil during the mechanical harvesting process. The soil characteristics and the materials that are collected affect these two operations; in addition, there are reports that suggest that mechanical sweeping and picking are hampered by subsoiling. In this regard, the current study evaluated losses during the mechanical sweeping and picking of coffee cultivated under four soil management treatments in Presidente Olegário, MG, Brazil. The four treatments consisted of the following soil management practices: subsoiling and crushing; subsoiling and harrowing; subsoiling followed by harrowing and crushing; and the control, with no soil management. The soil was prepared in 2014, while the coffee sweeping and picking occurred in 2015 and 2016. The experimental design followed the assumptions of statistical process control, and fifteen points were evaluated per treatment in accordance with the statistical process control guidelines. The lowest loss rates were obtained for the subsoiling and crushing soil management treatment, whereas harrowing after subsoiling led to the highest losses and the lowest process quality.

Statistical process control has been widely used in agricultural operations for monitoring and improving process quality. This study aims to evaluate the Shewhart and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) control charts to monitor the performance of an agricultural tractor-planter set. The design is completely randomized based on the assumptions of statistical process control and comprises two treatments: day and night shift treatments. The data to assess the performance of the tractor-planter set are collected during the day and night shifts and used to evaluate the operating speed, motor rotation, engine oil pressure and water temperature, and hourly fuel consumption. The dataset comprised 40 samples compiled from the frontal monitor column inside a tractor cab. It is concluded that both Shewhart and MMEP/EWMA control charts can be used to evaluate engine performance based on the quality indicator parameters investigated, regardless of the normality assumption of the datasets.

Selective mechanized coffee (Coffea arabica L.) harvesting is strategic for producers to add greater quality and value to their production. However, the success of this operation is linked to the strength needed to detach the fruit from the coffee tree. The objective of this work was to evaluate the detachment force of coffee fruits according to the period of the day (TT), as well as the relation between the stages of maturation and exposure to sunlight. The experiment was carried out in a coffee plantation Catuaí Vermelho IAC 144 (in the municipality of Presidente Olegário, Minas Gerais, Brazil) during the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 harvests. A completely randomized design was used in a time-sub-subdivided plot scheme. The main plot (sun exposure), subplots (fruit maturation stages [TSs]), and sub-subplot (days). The detachment force of the fruits was evaluated using a portable digital dynamometer, with 36 repetitions. Data variance analysis was performed and, when necessary, Tukey's test was applied, both at .05 probability. The force required to remove the fruits from the coffee tree was influenced by the TS, the TT, and the plants' face of sun exposure. It is concluded that the TT and the face of sun exposure influence the detachment strength of the coffee fruits and that considering the detachment strength of the green and ripe fruits, all periods evaluated favor the realization of selective mechanized harvesting of coffee.

The mechanized harvesting operation of coffee sweep from ground have a great importance, due the value of the coffee that was lost by the harvest process, as well as the breakdown of the cycle of pests that can damage the coffee. To change work settings can influence significantly the capacity of the gathering system. Due, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence the speed of displacement and rotations of the components of gathering coffee machine in its performance. The experiment was carried out in the municipality of Presidente Olegário-MG on coffee plantations aged 10 to 11 years. The field, presenting an average of 990 kg ha-1 of coffee present in the soil after the machine harvest. The engine rotations of the tractor evaluated were 146.6, 162.3, 178.0, 193.7, and 209.4 rad.s-1 combined with the 1stA and 2ndA gears, resulting in different working speeds. The treatments were distributed in randomized blocks with five replicates. The variables analyzed were the gathering efficiency, cleaning efficiency, coffee losses, and percentage of mineral and vegetal impurities. It was concluded that the gathering efficiency was higher when working with 178.0 rad.s-1 at 1.26 km h-1, resulting in lower coffee losses in the operation, a preponderant factor in the study. On the other hand, the best cleaning efficiency of the machine was found when using 193.7 rad.s-1 and 1.37 km h-1.

The Brazilian peanut harvest has become fully mechanized and is divided into two operations: digging and gathering. Nerveless, in both operations, it can be found losses, and it could avoid doing machine maintenance adequate. This study aimed to evaluate the quality and quantify the interference of the harvesting period (morning, afternoon, and night) and the wear of the digging-shaking-inverter mechanism (blades) in the loss indexes in the digging operation. The experiment was carried out in a commercial field. Worn and new blades were used to dig peanuts at three different periods of the day. Losses were quantified by collecting 20 points separated by 20 m for each treatment. The experimental design was in bands using a factorial 3x2 analysis, was three shifts of digging and two blades wear condition. Digging with worn blades increased the losses in the three different periods compared to using new blades, and the farmers can increase profit by 22% by reducing the digging losses.

O preparo convencional do solo ainda é um procedimento comum na agricultura brasileira e, este contexto, o uso de grades pesadas é utilizado por diversos produtores. Assim, o conhecimento da variabilidade dos parâmetros de desempenho desta operação pode ser útil para que se possa obter melhor qualidade do processo. Desta forma, objetivou-se neste trabalho avaliar a qualidade operacional do preparo do solo realizado por meio de uma grade pesadas utilizando-se ferramentas do controle estatístico de processo. O trabalho foi desenvolvido no município de Sinop – MT, em solo de textura argilosa e apresentando teor de água no solo igual a 25,74%. A avaliação da qualidade operacional foi obtida tomando-se 33 pontos amostrais em intervalos e 1,5 minutos, utilizando-se como indicadores de qualidade da operação a rotação do motor, o consumo horário, específico e operacional, força e potência na barra de tração e consumo energético por unidade de área trabalhada. Os indicadores de qualidade relacionados ao consumo de combustível, exceto o consumo específico, apresentaram padrão de agrupamento dos dados, enquanto que os indicadores relacionados à força de tração apresentaram agrupamento e tendência. Com base nos indicadores avaliados, o processo foi considerado instável, resultando em uma operação de baixa qualidade.