High Tech Harvesting OF Hazelnuts

High Tech Harvesting OF Hazelnuts

Susan Allen
Susan Allen
With the Fruit and today, Nut Grower Report I'm Susan Allen. Like that hazelnut flavored latte, thank Willamette Valley hazelnut growers, the third largest producers in the world, and globally recognized as the premier. I spoke with Carl Laux sales manager for Pape Machinery out of Salem who attended America's only hazelnut equipment show earlier this month during the annual Nut Growers Society of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia's Summer Tour. He was there introducing an incredibly high-tech harvester from Italy.

LAUX: So the Monchiero nut harvest is actually built in Polenzo Italy. We hooked up with them about a year and a half ago and we brought two of their smaller harvesters in for last season. We demonstrated those pretty intensively and then this year we bought in ten of the larger machines, 2125. It's a much bigger machine with a higher cleaning capacity it is a self-propelled unit.

And tell us what makes it so special

LAUX: So the difference between this and what our growers are doing today is this that this is a one pass machine. The operation in the hazelnut orchard today is that they make several passes with a sweeper then they have to hook up the tractor with the nut harvester and go through the orchard a third time where this Monchiero single pass machine is one pass up and back through the and it will make their efficiencies much better than what they are traditionally used to doing.

Carl said there has been a tremendous amount of hazelnuts planted in the Willamette Valley recently, and I look forward to attending my first hazelnut harvest in September.

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