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TRI-
June 27, 2009
Asparagus harvesting machine shows effectiveness
Tri-City Herald
The effectiveness of an asparagus
harvesting machine Kim Haws has spent nearly 40 years refining showed in
the freshly cut field north of Pasco.
Haws knelt last week to examine the
stump of a cut asparagus spear. It was surrounded by several shorter
spears that weren't quite ready for harvest.
"That's tomorrow's crop," Haws said,
pointing to the still immature spears.
The result was what Haws hoped to see
last week as he tested the harvester at Six Sons Farms, owned by Bill
Middleton and his son Keith.
Researchers from Washington State
University were evaluating the machine's effectiveness compared with
labor-intensive hand harvesting, which is how most asparagus is cut.
Data won't be ready for a month or so,
but Carter Clary, WSU professor and research scientist, said, "It's
looking good.
"If it can get about 70 percent (of what
hand harvesters get) then it will even out economically," he said.
The goal of the machine is to cut and
gather asparagus ready for market without damaging spears that aren't
fully grown, Haws said.
The imposing green machine boasts a row
of photoelectric sensors that can be adjusted to the desired height of
the spears, 8 or 9 inches.
When a sensor detects a spear as it's
driving down rows, it trips an arm with a large tonglike mechanism on
the end. The tong closes on the spear and an attached blade cuts it.
The tong then releases the asparagus
onto a conveyor belt -- complete with open slits to sift out dirt clumps
-- that carries it up to the machine's main platform where workers can
sort the crop.
The machine, which is the 15th prototype
of the Haws Harvester, is getting close to going commercial, Haws said.
Since the harvest season only lasts a
few weeks, there's only a small window of time for testing it each year,
he said.
"Our job is to every year improve it and
at the same time increase our know-how to make it economical (for
farmers)," Haws said.
Sendy Ramirez of Pasco stood on the
machine last week as at rolled down rows at about 4 mph. The speed at
which the machine travels is another plus because it can cover more
ground, Clary said.
She and Ruth Ramirez of Pasco also
hand-harvested plots for the comparative WSU research.
"It's easier in the machine and faster,"
she said.
Hand harvesting still is more effective,
Sendy Ramirez said, but it doesn't require the back-tiring work of
chopping spears with a knife.
A worker cutting asparagus can harvest
about three acres in a day, Keith Middleton said.
It takes about 55 workers to cut spears
on the farm's 160 acres of asparagus. But the machine can cut 50 to 75
acres per day, Haws said.
"We're pretty impressed," Middleton
said. "We're really hoping it will work out. It looks promising."
Using the machine for multiple harvests
per day also would be an advantage, he added.
People generally only harvest the crop
once daily and in the morning, but during hot weather spears can grow 6
to 8 inches a day and often some are ready to be harvested in the
evening, Clary said.
The concept of mechanical asparagus
harvesters date back to the early 1900s, according to a report Clary
co-authored.
As labor costs have risen --
particularly in Washington where the minimum wage is the highest in the
country at $8.55 -- and workers have become harder to find, interest in
mechanizing harvest has risen again.
The purpose of the WSU study, which is
in its fifth year, is to complete impartial evaluations of mechanical
harvesters to present to the industry, Clary said. The study is funded
by WSU's Agricultural Research Center.
Once the harvester runs through the
fields, the Ramirezes go through behind it and pick up any spears that
may have been dropped or damaged.
Then Chris Read, associate in research
at WSU, assesses the spears and compiles data.
A field day for those in the industry
will be Thursday. For more information, call the Washington Asparagus
Commission at 266-4303.
As Haws drove the harvester up and down
rows of asparagus last week, he stopped to explain the different
technologies used in his invention.
The mechanically inclined Richland
resident said the harvester started as a "fun challenge," but has
evolved into a technologically diverse machine with about 20,000 parts,
most of which he designed and created.
His son Joseph recently digitized the
design, which Haws said was a major advancement for the harvester's
accuracy.
The three-dimensional computer program
simulates particular parts as well as the entire machine.
"I'm really not capable of taking it to
this level without him," Kim Haws said.
Joseph Haws, 29, remembers sorting
asparagus atop the machine when he was little and is excited by how it
has developed over the years.
"It's part of my life," he said. "It's
like a younger sibling."
Kim Haws also credited his wife, Susan,
for her patience and support of his work on the harvester over the
years.
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