A new mechanical harvester developed by an ARS engineer can give U.S. citrus growers an edge on the orange market and make them more competitive with Brazilian growers. The machine–which shakes the tree foliage–can harvest a 90-pound field box of citrus for 50 cents, compared with the $1.50 it now costs for hand labor. It fills the 300 to 400 field boxes of fruit from each orchard acre 15 times faster than hand laborers. During peak season, Florida growers employ about 45,000 seasonal workers. Hand labor is expensive and may not always be available. Although most citrus is hand-harvested, some growers use trunk shakers that require chemicals to loosen ripe fruit. But there is no chemical approved for this use, and the new foliage shaker requires no loosening chemicals. With the new harvester, growers can harvest more cheaply, control when they harvest and know that their equipment is dependable. Florida's Department of Citrus has signed a cooperative research and development agreement with ARS to further investigate the harvester. Appalachian Fruit Research Station, Kearneysville, WV Donald L. Peterson, (304) 725-3451,

dpeterson@afrs.ars.usda.gov

An ARS-patented soybean ink formula for sheet-fed and heat-set web offset printing could significantly boost demand for soybeans. Sheet-fed and heat-set web offset printing have a potential market of 100 million pounds of ink for printing books and 423 million pounds of ink for magazines. ARS researchers have already patented a soy-based newspaper ink that has a market potential of 500 million pounds of ink. Soy ink's benefits to consumers: It won't rub off on your hands. It's also better for the environment because it degrades five times as fast as petroleum-based inks and it has no volatile organic chemicals. For printers, soybean oil ink offers faster and less expensive clean-up (Patent No. 5,122,188).

National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, IL Sevim Erhan (309) 681-6531,

erhansz@mail.ncaur.usda.gov

Last Updated: April 29, 1998
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