Blog

Apple harvesting has been going on for several weeks. Harvest time is the most expected moment from the producer’s point of view. It’s finally time when fruit growers can rate if the effort which they put into the fruit growing process over the past few months will be adequately rewarded. However, before the final summary of the season and the value the profitability of production, the fruit should be harvested.

Which apple harvesting method to choose?

There are two basic apple harvesting methods: 

1. Manual harvesting – an extremely labor-intensive method, dominant in dessert apple production. It requires, mainly in big area orchards, the participation of a significant number of seasonal workers. However, it allows to reduce the risk of mechanical fruit damage, which is unacceptable during a long time of storage.
2. Mechanical harvesting – used mainly in industrial apple production. This method is much faster and less labor-intensive. Its great advantage is the possibility to minimize the number of employees who are necessary to harvest fruit. It also allows to reduce the total harvest time.

In recent years,  among orchard men, there is a noticeable increasing interest in the apple harvesting mechanization process.

It results, mainly, the problems with finding the required number of seasonal workers, as well as the constantly increasing labor costs. For many professional fruit growers, the purchase of their harvesting machine often becomes a necessity. After deciding of buying the new harvesting machine, the producer gains an additional advantage.  He can start the harvesting process at the most convenient time. His farm becomes independent.

Machines for harvesting apples

There are many models of machines for harvesting apples available on the market.

Most of them are machines mechanically harvesting fruit that was falling off to the orchard floor. The machines collect fruit laying under the trees and after that move them into the storage boxes. Some of them were additionally equipped with blowers that remove part of impurities.

The second group is machines that allow you to harvest apples directly from the trees. We find here ex. machines produce by WEREMCZUK company. Producer offer machine for harvesting industrial apples and other stone fruit FELIX / Z and shake and catch harvesting machines – MAJA series. These machines have been working in apple orchards (in Poland and abroad) for several years.

Advantages of the mechanical apple harvesting technology – directly from the tree

What additional arguments can be important for an orchard-man while deciding on buying an apple harvesting machine? 

For one of our customers from England extremely important was the possibility to deliver the highest quality products. He thinks that customers deserve better value from their fruit.

In his opinion, processing fruits collected straight from the ground, often with other impurities, is not enough to obtain the best quality final product. He makes high-quality juice from apples grown in his orchard so he wants to have the best quality of fruits. The grower decided to change the method of harvesting fruits and purchase the MAJA AUTOMATIC-LK fruit shaker. In his situation, it was also necessary to adapt tree configuration and the same changing agroforestry.

He talks that using the shake and catch harvesting machine for apples has a lot of advantages, including:

• reduce the number of soil-borne spoilage pathogens which could get with apples to the final product,
• reduce the risk of rotten fruit and bruising fruits,
• allow adjusting the harvest date depending on the degree of fruit ripeness.

The last of the above points may turn out to be particularly important for fruit growers who cultivate various types of apple trees and also other fruit trees. It enables fast and effective harvesting even in unfavorable conditions. Bad weather happens quite often in autumn, so it’s not weird.

Modern, competitive fruit farms   

Fruit production, like any other industry, meets with many problems.

Farms that want to prosper and be competitive on the market must have their business idea. They must be prepared for various conditions.

One of the elements which increase the value of farms and also have a huge impact on development, especially in the agricultural sector, is the investment in machinery. Every professional farmer must individually answer the question of which path to choose. However, it is always worthwhile to carefully analyze all available options.