Feb 5, 2016Cornell harvesting unit showcased in Michigan visit
A picking machine developed by Paul Wafler and Cornell University was brought from New York this past fall for a harvesting demonstration in a Benzie County, Michigan, apple orchard.
Paul Wafler, owner of Wafler Nursery in Wolcott, New York, is working with Cornell University to perfect an apple harvesting system that will help pickers be more efficient.
This apple picker features a three-tiered platform to allow three pickers on each side to reach apples at different heights.
“Growers have been challenged with finding enough adequate labor to get the crop picked as we move through apple harvest this season,” said Nikki Rothwell, district horticulturist and coordinator of the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center near Traverse City, Michigan.
“This scenario has become increasingly common in the region, in part because northwest Michigan is likely the last stop for migrant labor,” Rothwell said. “In many cases, migrant workers begin in southern states or in southern Michigan and follow the ripening crops as harvest moves northward. There are not many more northerly places (or crops) than our region. Growers are becoming more innovative in how they harvest apples as a result of the current labor shortage.”
Rothwell noted that harvest technology is advancing for all crops. Apple growers are becoming more interested in mechanizing harvest or using machines to assist with the harvest process.
The Wafler machine was designed to help pickers use both hands with no ladders, Rothwell said.
“I thought the Wafler harvester was great,” Rothwell said following the demonstration. “I really thought it was a nice option that is perhaps a transition machine before jumping into something fancier like the DBR (a platform harvester from DBR Conveyor Concepts).”
This platform-style system is self- propelled and moves continuously through the orchard. Up to eight pickers can stand on the two sides of this three-tiered platform (i.e. four pickers on either side of the machine), and five apple bins are nestled between pickers standing on both sides. The apple bins are easily accessible for workers unloading their picking baskets.
After aligning the Wafler machine into the row, it has a cruise-control-type setting that allows the machine to drive itself down the row with some occasional manual steering to keep the machine on its course, Rothwell said. As the Wafler moves forward, the workers pick apples from the trees on both sides; they pick fruit into traditional apple-picking harnesses.
“But rather than walking to an apple bin placed in the row to dump the apples from their picking baskets, the pickers simply turn around and dump their fruit into one of the five bins on the harvest platform,” she said. “The Wafler machine reduces picking time because the workers do not need to walk to the bins within the orchard.”
Rothwell observed that trees are picked more efficiently on the three-tiered platform (close to the ground, mid-way up the tree and top of the tree).
“This machine eliminates the need for ladders that would typically be necessary to reach the fruit high in the tree. Moving ladders through an orchard is less efficient – it increases travel time on foot. And climbing up and down ladders is tiring and potentially hazardous for pickers.”
Bins in most apple orchards are placed by tractor singularly throughout the orchard rows before the start of picking, Rothwell said. With the Wafler machine, five bins are placed onto a slanted plane on the harvester. Pickers fill all five of these bins rather than filling a single bin nearby in the orchard row. When the five bins are full, they slide down the slope to the orchard floor and are replaced by five empty bins.
Empty and full bins are carried in and out of the orchard on another Wafler- designed piece of equipment called a bin hauler. This five-bin exchange can be completed while the harvester is still moving and pickers are still picking, thus requiring no down time during the harvest. This component of the harvester is attractive to growers and has the potential to further increase harvest efficiency.
Cornell University evaluated the Wafler machine and found that it improved overall apple harvest efficiency by 30 percent, Rothwell said.
“The Wafler machine can be used for other tasks in the orchard, such as pruning or setting up trellis systems,” she said. “This machine is designed for use in modern orchard systems where the trees are planted close together (less than 4 feet apart) and the distance between rows is less than 14 feet.”
The machine was demonstrated at Evans Brothers farm on a high-density Jonastar block.
“We were glad that we could make this demonstration happen,” said Mike Evans, one of the owners of the operation. “Developing mechanical harvesting systems may be one way to reduce labor needs and still deliver a great product.”
University project
Researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) continue to pursue commercialization of an in-orchard harvesting aid/sorting machine that they say could prove to be significantly lower in cost than other existing systems.
Renfu Lu, research leader for the USDA/ARS Sugarbeet and Bean Research Unit at MSU, has said the machine has been in development for about five years with support from the Michigan Apple Committee.
“We have been working hard on the project for the past year and have so far made good progress on our apple harvest and sorting project,” Lu said.
“We have established a formal cooperative agreement with a Michigan horticultural equipment manufacturer to jointly develop an apple harvest and infield sorting machine,” Lu said. “Our lab is responsible for the overall design of the machine and the sorting system, while the commercial company will build a self- propelled apple harvest platform. We have started to build a new version apple sorting system, with many improvements over our previous version. We have also completed an initial design of the new bin filler.
“We expect to complete the assembly of the apple sorting and bin filling systems and apple harvest platform in the first half of 2016 and will then do tests and evaluation of this first commercial prototype before we schedule for a field demonstration and tests in the fall harvest season of 2016,” he said. “The new prototype will have a number of new features, including automatic, continuous bin handling, a new sorter design and improved bin filling technology. Because the system is still being developed, we are not ready for full disclosure at this time.
“This machine allows growers to achieve cost savings postharvest, reduce postharvest disease and pest problems and enhance product choice-ability – those are the three main goals,” Lu said.
“This system can help growers improve harvest efficiency and worker safety,
and in the meantime it will sort apples into two or three quality grades (cull, processing and fresh) in the orchard, so that growers do not need to send inferior fruit to the packinghouse,” Lu said.
Currently, Lu stated, both defective and sound apple fruits are not sorted at harvest, but are combined, causing significant storage losses due to the defective fruits being susceptible to pest and disease infestation. The result is costly postharvest handling to remove unmarketable fruits.
“We developed an in-orchard mobile system that automatically sorts and grades apples into culls (defective), processing and fresh-market quality fruits by measuring fruit color, size, shape and weight using color-imaging, machine-vision technology,” Lu indicated. “This system incorporates harvest aid functions to reduce safety hazards for fruit harvesters. This technology will enable apple growers to separate or leave defective fruit in the orchard, resulting in less postharvest disease/pest problems and lowering postharvest storage and packing costs, and will assure a better fruit quality inventory at the warehouse.”
Lu said the mobile system is utilizing an existing commercial apple harvest trailer and a tractor to reduce the overall cost. It uses a low-cost, computerized color imaging technology, coupled with several novel designs in fruit handling, grading and bin filling, to sort and grade apples at a speed of 6-8 fruits per second.
— Gary Pullano, associate editor
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