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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #363641
Research Project: Production Management Research for Berry Crops (BRIDGE PROJECT)

Location: Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory

Title: Performance of modified machine harvesters for fresh market blueberry in the Pacific Northwest

Author
item DEVETTER, LISA - Washington State University
item Takeda, Fumiomi
item YANG, WEI - Oregon State University
item KORTHUIS, SCOTT - Oxbo International Corporation
item LI, CHANGYING - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Lower Mainland Horticultural Improvement Association
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/20/2019
Publication Date: 1/24/2019
Citation: Devetter, L.W., Takeda, F., Yang, W.Q., Korthuis, S., Li, C. 2019. Performance of modified machine harvesters for fresh market blueberry in the Pacific Northwest. Proceedings of the Lower Mainland Horticultural Improvement Association. p. 154-158.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Blueberry growers selling fruit on the fresh market are challenged with harvesting their crop due to high labor costs and low worker availability. One way to mitigate this challenge is to mechanize and automate harvest operations. However, current over-the-row (OTR) harvesters are not suitable for harvesting fresh market blueberry because of the bruising that the fruit sustains as they drop and are moved inside the machine, which reduces fruit quality and postharvest longevity. In 2018, multiple experiments were conducted with Oxbo 7440 and 8040, which were modified by installing neoprene soft-catch surfaces over the conveyor belt and soft fruit catching plates. Much of the work in Oregon focused on comparing the modified Oxbo 8040 to hand and standard OTR harvesting, while work in Washington focused on improving pack out and quality using different ground and head speeds. Overall, the Oxbo 8040 design had fruit quality and pack out equal or comparable to hand harvested fruit and better than standard OTR harvested fruit. This research has advanced harvester design and understanding of multiple aspects of the science of machine harvesting blueberry for fresh market. Our research will ultimately lead to the development of effective, durable harvesting technologies to allow growers to economically harvest high quality blueberries for fresh market.