Michigan Orchard Tests Robotic Harvester Amid Labor Challenges
By Andi Anderson
In West Michigan, at Schwallier’s Country Basket orchard near Sparta, a technological advancement could mark the beginning of a revolution in apple harvesting.
This comes at a time when apple orchard owners are grappling with increasing labor costs and shortages, making the annual harvest season a strenuous affair.
The innovation in question is a robotic arm that delicately picks apples from trees, ensuring minimal damage to the delicate fruit.
This technology is being developed in collaboration with Michigan State University (MSU) and led by engineering professor Zhaojian Li, alongside Renfu
Lu from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.
Their creation promises to streamline the labor-intensive process of apple picking, which has traditionally been done by hand.
The robotic harvester operates with precision, gently twisting and snapping apples from their branches and depositing them into a padded bin.
This method is crucial as apples, particularly those destined for fresh markets like Walmart and Meijer, are prone to bruising. The demonstration at the orchard showcases the harvester swiftly moving from one apple to the next, illustrating its efficiency.
Phil Schwallier, the orchard owner and a fourth-generation fruit grower, has been a vocal advocate for addressing the labor issues that threaten the viability of orchards like his. The orchard typically relies on seasonal labor, much of which comes from Mexico.
However, with wages for these workers on the rise due to regulatory changes, the financial sustainability of traditional harvesting methods has come into question.
This year, Schwallier, along with other growers, has reached out to federal leaders through a letter highlighting the crisis in the industry.
The hope is that advancements like the robotic harvester could alleviate some of these pressures by reducing reliance on seasonal labor, potentially transforming apple production in Michigan and beyond.
As this technology develops, it may offer a glimpse into a future where orchards are both more productive and less dependent on an increasingly expensive and scarce workforce.
Photo Credit - istock-rixipix
Categories: Minnesota, Crops, Fruits and Vegetables, Equipment & Machinery