Looking at Tree Fruit in 2011

Looking at Tree Fruit in 2011

Looking at Tree Fruit in 2011. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Jim McFerson with the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission says that labor is again going to be an issue for the industry come next year and doubts very much if there will be any kinds of resolutions from Capitol Hill. So he says they are moving ahead with other projects to help ease the labor demands. MCFERSON: So we're pushing ahead on research and technology that makes the workplace more productive. Higher yields per acre of higher quality fruit and then mechanical assist to manage the fruit, prune it, harvest it. And we have in the field at least three different examples of mechanical assist machinery. He says that these are working surprisingly well and while they are not full on automation, the can greatly speed up and ease the workload and they are functioning right now. MCFERSON: Talking right now, talking this season. One that we've heard about before, a joint venture between Oxbo which is a major equipment manufacture with a plant up in Linden and their collaborator is Picker Technologies out of Seattle. A new company out of Michigan named DBR Conveyer Concepts has a less ambitious, smaller scale design. Both of them use a pneumatic approach to bring the apples from the tree to a sorting or accumulation area. Still picking by hand but assisted and finally. MCFERSON: A third project is Van Doren Sales and Auvil Fruit Company right here in north central Washington building on to their orchard platforms a sorting and bin handling device. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.
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