1

1

Harvesting

2

Advantages of hand harvest

• Accurate maturity and grade selection.• Less damage to product.• Allows multiple harvest.• Easy to increase harvest rate - just hire

more pickers.

3

Maturity selection

2

4

Less product damage?

5

Strawberry picker damage

0

1

2

3

4

5

A B C D

Picker

Berry Damage Score

6

Machine harvest advantages

• Less costly, but high capital costs• 24 hr harvest possible• Less labor management problems• Higher wages for workers• Stabilizes work force size

3

7

Field vs. shed packing

Pick Pack Transport Cool/store

Pick PackTransport Cool/storeCool/store

Field Pack

Shed Pack

8

Strawberry - field pack

9

Tomato - shed pack

4

10

Celery - field pack

11

Lettuce - field pack

12

Lettuce - materials handling

5

13

Lettuce - processing

14

Lettuce - processing

15

Carrot Harvester

6

16

Sweetpotatoes

17

Onions - field curing

18

Onions - field packing

7

19

Treefruit

20

Harvest aids - ca 1900

Worker position

Detachment

Fruit handling

21

Pears

1960worker

positioner& fruit

handling

8

22

Pears

2005worker

positioner& fruit

handling

23

Citrus - worker positioner

24

Shake-catchharvest

9

25

Catchframe

26

ShakerBlight

27

Bushberry harvester

10

28

Canopy management

29

Robotic harvest

30

Field vs. Shed packing

Pick Pack Transport Cool/store

Pick PackTransport Cool/storeCool/store

Field Pack

Shed Pack

11

31

Transport to Packing Shed

32

Hand Packing

33

Handpack

12

34

Hand Pack Station

35

Machine Grading and Packing