AUGUST 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC Soft landing
Blueberry growers explore mechanical harvesting for the fresh market
by PETER MITHAM ABBOTSFORD – Growers
know the fresh market is where it’s at for the best prices on blueberries but as BC production continues to grow, many are looking for ways to get the leap on each year’s crop. Any advantage they can gain on pricing is key and for some, that involves mechanical harvesting. While machine harvesters
typically bring in fruit destined for processing, where fruit quality is less of a concern, they’re also important in reducing labour costs. This helps boost margins on processed fruit, which typically pays less, but it can also give growers a headstart at the beginning of the season. By machine-harvesting the
season’s first fruit, growers can secure better pricing on a portion of their crop by bringing it to market earlier at less expense, explained Ravi Bathe of R&R Farms Ltd. in Abbotsford to growers attending the Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford this past winter. Bathe told Country Life in BC that a variety like Duke, which is among the most-planted variety in BC, stays on the bush longer than most varieties. This means a harvester can make an initial pass through a field and bring in the season’s first berries while the rest continue to ripen. Those first berries may be a little less ripe but this gives them the firmness needed to withstand machine harvesting. Hand-harvesters may make a second pass for more fresh-market fruit while a third pass with the machine can clean up the field and deliver a decent pick to the processor. Varieties that don’t stick on the bush as long and require a shorter harvest window are a different prospect and may be eligible for just one pass by a mechanical harvester due to the need to match harvest date with resilience. “Fresh is very strict and you
have to be picking on time, every time,” Anmol Mahil of Mahil Packers Inc. in Abbotsford told the PAS audience. David Mutz of Berry Haven
Farm Ltd. agreed in remarks he made as part of a processing panel. While picking for the fresh
market is ideal, harvesting for the processed market isn’t a bad idea. The aim, he said, is to pick for quality – not to
sacrifice it in the name of efficiency. Put qua lity first, and the end-market will be clear. But it’s not worth picking if
there isn’t enough fruit, something that variables from the weather to field conditions will determine. Harvester operators need to be detail-oriented. It’s not simply enough to drive the machine; as many as five adjustments may be required in a row to ensure the crop is being pulled off in good condition. “You’ve got to find a balance between not getting enough fruit and not damaging the fruit,” Bathe said.
The human touch The human element is a
key reason hand-harvesting is gentler, but it’s not the only one. The shorter distance berries typically travel from hand to bucket is another and one of prime importance in comparison to the mechanized process. When a machine brushes berries from a bush, the fruit can fall by a metre or more onto a plate from whence it’s conveyed into a lug. The drop inevitably damages the berry, increasing its vulnerability to decay and shortening its shelf life.
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Machine-harvesting blueberries for the fresh market is possible with some attention to detail. FILE PHOTO
BC berry breeder Michael Dossett has been studying ways to minimize the damage and improve machine- harvesting of fresh market berries.
Dossett’s criteria for a good
machine-harvestable variety is a firm berry with good growth habits and one that ripens uniformly across a planting. Its fruit should have a long pedicel that detaches easily from the berry. “What we’re looking for is a
berry that’s less likely to bruise,” he said. “We want something that tears easily but with minimal damage to the fruit.” Complicating matters are
the several components that contribute to berry firmness,
including skin thickness, elasticity and the density of cells in the flesh.
“Not all firm berries are
equal,” Dossett said. “Some firm berries are going to be better than others when it comes to machine harvesting.” One question Dossett has
been investigating is whether there’s a threshold for berry firmness; in short, whether a berry be too soft, or too firm? Researchers have spent
time dropping frozen blueberries from a height of one metre onto a hard plastic sheet in hopes of finding an answer. Preliminary results indicate that firmness may not be so much a factor as the overall tendency of the berry to
bruise, which can be a function of elasticity and cell density rather than whether or not the berry has a thick skin.
Bush height is also
emerging as a factor. By tweaking harvesting methods, the picking process could be made gentler; alternatively, bushes could be bred or pruned to make them better- suited to mechanical harvesting. While there’s plenty of work
left to do, Dossett encouraged growers to not stop thinking about how to improve the harvest process. “I want you to be thinking about these things and how we can mitigate bruising,” he said.
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