Harvest Mechanization Progress and Prospects for Fresh Market Quality Deciduous Tree Fruits

Abstract

<jats:p>Deciduous tree fruit crops such as apple (<jats:italic>Malus domestica</jats:italic>), peach (<jats:italic>Prunus persica</jats:italic>), and sweet cherry (<jats:italic>Prunus avium</jats:italic>) are not mechanically harvested for the fresh market. Attempts to mechanically harvest these fruits by mass removal techniques have not been successful due to excessive fruit damage caused during detachment, fall through the canopy, and collection. Robotic harvesters have not been commercially accepted due to insufficient fruit recovery. A U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) harvesting concept shows promise for harvesting both fresh market quality apples and sweet cherries. Successful mechanical harvesting of fresh market quality deciduous tree fruit will only occur when plant characteristics and machine designs are integrated into a compatible system. Cultivar characteristics that would facilitate machine harvesting are uniform fruit maturity at harvest, firm fruit that are resistant to mechanical damage, and compact growth habit that produces fruit in narrow canopies and on short/stiff limbs. Engineers must develop new detachment principles that minimize the energy input to effect fruit detachment, and develop durable energy-absorbing catching surfaces/conveyors to eliminate damage during collection of the fruit. As technology advances, sorting and sizing systems might be developed that can be operating on the harvester to eliminate culls in the field and deliver only fresh market quality fruit to the packers.</jats:p>

Effect of ethephon on sweet cherry pedicel-fruit retention force and quality is cultivar dependent

“…Harvest mechanization was adopted decades ago in sweet cherry, but for only lower grade fruit for brining and processing (Webster and Looney 1996). More recently, attempts to automate or mechanize harvest of fresh market quality fruit have shown promise (Peterson 2005a). A harvest aid utilizing narrow inclined trellises and an autosteer mechanism allows worker freedom of movement that improves productivity by 22% compared to hand harvest (Peterson 2005b).…”

Agricultural Labor: Demand for Labor

“…Washington State University and the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) scientists have developed a mechanical harvester for fresh market sweet cherries and apples (Peterson, 2005). A chemical fruitloosening agent (abscission) is first applied to the trees a few days before harvesting.…”

A Systems Approach to Chile Harvest Mechanization

“…In more recent years, adoption of mechanization has encouraged crop breeders to modify plant characteristics involved in mechanical harvest; for example, plant architecture, determinant maturity, and fruit attachment. Chemicals are sometimes used to further optimize mechanized harvest, usually through changes to maturity of the crop, abscission, or attachment of the fruit (Peterson, 2005;Zahara and Johnson, 1979). Crops must be bred for characteristics that enable optimum yield and quality from a mechanical harvest system (Eastman, et al, 1997;Marshall and Boese, 1998).…”