09/28/07 Getting Around Worker Shortages

Getting Around Worker Shortages. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Signs are up everywhere in apple country. More availabilities than people to fill them. But what if it only took a handful of workers to pick all those apples. Automated pickers have long been a dream child of inventors and orchardists. Dovex Orchards in Wenatchee has been testing a couple of harvesters that just might help cut the need for labor. Noel Adkins is the Northern Farmer for Dovex who is testing the units. ADKINS: We're just experimenting with some various kinds of platforms that we can replace ladders with and we think it's going to be a little bit more efficient and a little safer for the people not being on ladders. The platforms allow workers to remain in one position while the platform moves through the orchard. But these platforms won't work in every orchard. ADKINS: The orchard must be groomed to allow the platforms to fit in and for the people to be able to reach. We've been working in this since pruning time last winter to groom a certain number of acres to summer prune it, to thin it, to finally now harvest it. It's a two year program we're in to try and discover whether we can make up for the shortfall of not having enough labor come to harvest. So far the platforms have been working fairly well for Adkins and his crew. There are some mechanical tweaks needed but over productivity looks promising. ADKINS: There's going to be some use in this in the future or something very near to it but I'm encouraged. At the worst case, we're even with ladders and in some cases we'll be slightly more efficient. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.