TRI-CITY HERALD (Pasco, Washington) June 13, 2007 Cherry growers get peek at the futureMARY HOPKIN HERALD STAFF WRITER Cherry growers gathered around doctorate student Erick Smith at Washington State University's Roza Orchard in Prosser on Tuesday, listening closely as he offered a solution for the labor shortages facing area orchardists. Smith and Matthew Whiting, an assistant professor at WSU, for two years have been testing a two-unit mechanical harvester developed by engineers in Virginia. And Smith had the opportunity to demonstrate the harvester to fruit growers from across the globe during WSU's annual Cherry Field Day. More than 100 fruit growers attended the event, during which WSU scientists and graduate students highlighted the work they are doing to create more efficient orchard systems, reduce crop loss and develop new cherry varieties. Claudia Acosta works for a company in Chile that grows cherries and other tree fruits. She's been in the U.S. for more than a week touring orchards in California and Washington with other members of the International Tree Fruit Association. "It will help us determine what (varieties) America wants," Acosta said. And events like the field day also help growers from other countries learn new techniques they might be able to use in their own orchards to make them more efficient. For local growers facing a shrinking farm-labor market, the mechanical picker raised some skeptical eyebrows. Although tart cherries -- which end up in processing plants -- are commonly harvested mechanically with machines that shake the trees to get the cherries off, the 155,000 tons of sweet cherries that will be grown in Washington are handled much more cautiously. The sweet cherries, which are sold fresh, can be difficult to get off the tree, and mechanically harvesting the fruit with a shaker can damage the fruit. In addition, when cherries are harvested mechanically, they fall from the tree without their stems and cherry growers didn't believe consumers would want stemless cherries. Smith said studies conducted in Calgary, Alberta and Portland showed consumers cared more about the cherries' sweet flavor than whether it had a stem or not. In that case, orchardists no longer have to have their fruit hand-picked, which could cut their labor costs drastically. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as bringing in a mechanical harvester into any orchard in the middle of June to start picking. The mechanical picker being tested works best with a relatively new cherry variety, "Skeena." And it works best, with less fruit lost, when trees are grown on a trellis. Instead of shaking the tree like a traditional mechanical harvester, the prototype being tested in Prosser has a heavy hydraulic arm that delivers a solid punch to a limb. The cherries then fall and are caught in a conveyor that delivers them to the box. The operator controls the arm, where it hits and how often. Gary Middleton, owner of Middleton Orchards in Eltopia, had mixed feelings about the mechanical harvester. "If I was planting new orchards today, I would consider it as an option," Middleton said. But the harvester couldn't be used on the thick trunks of the 13-year-old bing cherry trees he has in his orchard. Smith agreed that the harvester wouldn't work in old stock orchards, but hopes when orchardists have to replace trees, they might plant it with the mechanical harvester in mind. The harvester is "amazingly efficient" and losses due to damage are about the same as fruit that is hand-picked. And with labor shortages eminent, the mechanical harvester could have an effect on the industry. "Now we need to have a grower willing to take the risk," Smith said.
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