Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The potential societal benefits from agricultural mechanization/automation are
numerous. By sustaining crucial commodities, the economic infrastructure support-
ing these industries will be reinvigorated. Rural communities will have new oppor-
tunities for better jobs that have less drudgery than traditional manual field labor.
Opportunities to improve worker health and safety by automating dangerous opera-
tions have significant potential.
The objective of this chapter is to present an overview of the major production
task areas in tree fruit and vineyard production that either have already been auto-
mated or are currently in research and development stages. Although the emphasis
will be on tree fruit and vineyards, there will be occasional segues to nut or vegetable
applications because of obvious similarities. This chapter will specifically address
topics in cultural practices, mass harvesting, selective harvesting, and novel tech-
nologies for crop monitoring.
7.2 CULTURAL PRACTICES: MECHANIZATION AND AUTOMATION
The fruit, vegetable, and nut industry is very labor intensive, and—because of
increasing labor costs—has become critical due to shrinking labor pools and global
market pressure from developing countries. Although harvesting is typically recog-
nized as the most labor-intensive operation, cultural practices such as weed and grass
control (mowing), control of tree size and shape (hedging and pruning), and control
of fruit yield and size (thinning) have become a popular target for automation. In this
section, we will discuss the state of the mechanization and automation in cultural
operations both in vineyard and orchard crops.
7.2.1 H
EDGING
AND
P
RUNING
A
UTOMATION
IN
V
INEYARD
P
RODUCTION
Grape growers for table, juice, and wine production have traditionally used manual
labor for all aspects of vineyard operations. But with the growing scarcity of labor,
increasing cost of labor, and competition from global markets, commercial growers
are turning to mechanization as a more economically viable alternative. Vineyard
mechanization began at the University of California, Davis, in the early 1950s. In
the work of Winkler et al. (1957), they modified the trellises to position the grapes
to hang under the wire in order to facilitate harvesting by cutting the grapes using a
cutter-bar machine. Although this kind of approach was not successful, it stimulated
the development of mechanized harvesting. Currently, numerous companies market
mechanical harvesters for grapes that use some form of vine shakers to detach the
fruits. As mechanical harvesters gained widespread use, research on pruning mecha-
nization followed with the aim of significantly reducing pruning labor. New types of
trellises were developed to allow maximum accessibility of the fruit during harvest
and effective mechanical pruning.
Researchers at the University of Arkansas Viticulture Program have been work-
ing on the development of a total vineyard mechanization system for more than 37
years. This system allows the maintenance and enhancement of fruit quality while
mechanizing almost all vineyard operations, including dormant and summer prun-
ing, leaf removal, shoot and fruit thinning, and harvesting.
