The Mechanisation of Cherry Production and Harvest

The UK sweet cherry sector is reliant on seasonal foreign labour and, with rising minimum wage levels, the pressure to find alternative harvesting techniques is ever-increasing to secure home-grown production against importation from lower labour cost areas of the world.

The convergence of agricultural technologies in the form of machine capabilities and improved biotechnological knowledge has the potential to change cherry production systems.

This study looked at the current and future availability of these new technologies and techniques in terms of plant physiology, mechanisation and robotics to determine the options available for sweet cherry production and harvest.

The current sweet cherry industry around the world is a paradox between the industry leading technology in the packhouses and a labourer with a bucket and ladder in the orchard. The reason for this inconsistency is that harvesting cherries is possibly one of the most difficult crops to mechanise due to the small fruit size, clustered fruit, dense foliage, and complex tree canopies.

The report reviews two potential future harvest solutions - individual fruit removal with robotic technology and mass harvest techniques.

In terms of robotics, systems are not currently being developed specifically for the cherry industry. Significant investment is being made in other fruit sectors, but the commercialisation of these systems remains elusive. The technology continues to develop at a rapid rate and could potentially be transferable to the cherry industry.

Overall commercial robotic harvesting of cherries is unlikely to be possible in the short term. The main hurdle to overcome is that the current prevalent cherry growing systems with complex canopy structures are not suitable for robotic harvesting as the robots cannot easily access the fruit. Therefore, the industry should move towards single plain growing systems and work with robotic companies as the technology continues to develop.

For the mass harvesting of cherries, the technology is currently available to detach sweet fresh cherries with mechanical vibration. The reason these systems have not been adopted is the high percentage of fruit damage as the fruit falls through the tree. By using innovative single plain growing systems on a Y trellis, it should be possible to reduce fall distances and harvest losses.

The mass harvesting of cherries will result in a stem-free product with a comparable shelf life. Initial indications suggest that a stem-free cherry will be acceptable in European and North American markets however less suitable to Asian markets.