Cherry packhouses use deep learning technology

Prima Frutta Packing is a family-owned business based in Linden, California. It packs cherries using the latest packaging technologies to ship across the U.S. and internationally.

The company was founded in 1991 by Tim Sambado to pack the produce from orchards on and around the family’s ranch, which is marketed by Primavera Marketing, also run by the family. 

The business introduced TOMRA Food sorters into its processing line 10 years ago.

“We can’t do our business without technology and information. We are obsessed with data, and we are obsessed with getting the best technology in the world,” explains Tim Sambado, president of Prima Frutta.

In 2023, TOMRA Food was in the final stages of development of its AI-powered LUCAi platform, ready to trial it with customers in different conditions and regions – from California to New Zealand. Prima Frutta Packing utilized LUCAi for improvements.

“We wanted to become more accurate, to simplify the system for our operators, and to be able to detect some defects that in our traditional mapping system was more difficult,” said Sambado.

After the 2023 cherry season, Prima Frutta Packing decided to install LUCAi on all of its machines, for a total of 132 lanes for their upcoming 2024 cherry season. 

Two long-standing customers who have been running TOMRA equipment for almost 10 years, both based in Central Otago, New Zealand, implemented the TOMRA LUCAi technology on their InVision2 grading platform: Dunstan Hills, which grows cherries primarily for export around the world, and Panmure Orchards, a family business founded in 1952 which serves the domestic market. 

The three cherry growers share the challenge of meeting the growing demand, with consistent high-quality produce, in the short cherry season, which typically begins in mid-May and finishes at the end of June in California, while in New Zealand it runs from early to mid-December to late January.