Grow Ahead series
MapMyApple offers orchard organization, problem diagnosis
Commercial orchards are often a patchwork quilt – blocks with different cultivars, planted in different years. Varieties have different schedules with various bloom times and harvest times. A disorganized grower risks getting lost in all... more »
Investment, need drive in-soil strawberry harvester
Investment, a groundbreaking “commercialized” strawberry harvest and swelling grower interest add up to a good year for Advanced Farm Technologies (AFT). The Davis, California-based company’s T-6 robotic strawberry harvester is one of just a handful... more »
California drone company releases beneficial insects
Drones and insects have a lot in common: spindly appendages, buzzing noises, flight – and the ability to significantly impact fruit and vegetable crops. A California startup company is pairing the two as a service... more »
Cutting corners the focus of smart technology ag advancements
In the agriculture world, we’re used to seeing all sorts of food processing innovative technology come to market. Earlier in the value chain, the farmers who grow the food you process are also reaping the... more »
Bioscience beckons, offers new traits for growers, consumers
Talking to researchers and companies about their genetically-engineered projects for specialty crops is a little bit like a trip to a grower’s dream world. Imagine ground cherries that stay on the plant until harvest, potatoes... more »
‘Future Orchard Production System’ drives orchard outlook
With heightened attention being given to labor-saving robotic harvesters and other innovative tools for tree fruit growers, a continued concentration is being given to the development of orchard planting systems that will be able to... more »
Harvest CROO Robotics strawberry harvester nears fruition
After five years of development, Harvest CROO Robotics has a robotic picker that is able to look at a strawberry plant and determine which among the berries on the plant are ripe, all through artificial... more »
Apple harvests ripe for automated help
Meet the Cyclone, a system of vacuum tubes that takes apples from human pickers, gently filling bins as it propels itself through the orchard. The Cyclone is the fruit, so to speak, of a partnership... more »
