Mechanized Blueberry Harvesting: Preliminary Results in the Italian Context

Luca Brondino,Nicole Roberta Giuggioli,Danielle Borra,Stefano Massaglia

doi:10.3390/agriculture11121197

Abstract

This study reports some preliminary results on mechanical blueberry harvesting for the fresh market of cv. Cargo® in the Piedmont region (northwest Italy). The investigated area is one of the most productive areas of Italy, which specializes in fresh blueberry production. The automatization of harvesting operations could represent a competitive advantage for the area’s blueberry supply chain but could limit the quality of fresh-picked berries. A prototype machine and a commercial harvester (Easy Harvester®) were compared with manual picking, considering the harvesting efficiency, labor productivity, harvesting cost and farm rentability. In this context, the labor cost for manual harvesting exceeds EUR 2.00 per kg of saleable product. The prototype allowed a 39% cost reduction, and the Easy Harvester® reduced it by about half. Nevertheless, these positive performances do not consider the reduction in the net sale price of EUR 0.40 due to the selection costs in the warehouse. In this study, we highlight that the transition to mechanical harvesting requires the transformation of several farming and packhouse operations, such as new crop varieties, field configurations and cultivation techniques. However, a possible technical improvement of the Easy Harvester® could represent an opportunity for Italian farms in the planning of berry production and marketing, involving all of the supply chain actors. Further research on the use of mechanization in the sector must continue and be supported.

Highlights

The world blueberry production has more than doubled in the last 10 years, reaching 823,328 tonnes in 2019
The Agrifrutta cooperative has transformed, over 10 years, from a type I organizational system, in which the blueberries were packaged directly by the farmer during the harvest and the product was immediately placed on the market with very short storage and conservation periods, to a type II system [34], in which the supply chain involves refrigeration and modified atmosphere systems that allow the product to be packaged in the packhouse and to be present on the market for a longer period of time [9]
The gap between the manual harvest and the two mechanical harvests was even more pronounced for the second picking time: PH and EH showed 25.4 kg/h and 18.7 k/h more harvesting than MH, respectively. These results can be attributed to the fact that the second picking time, on the Cargo® cv., had the highest percentage of ripe fruit on the plant, considerably increasing the amount of time spent on mechanical and semi-mechanical harvesting [39]

Summary

Introduction

The world blueberry production has more than doubled in the last 10 years, reaching 823,328 tonnes in 2019. Piedmont is the Italian region where berry production is most widespread, occupying 550 ha [2] This increase in production has led to a substantial change in the fresh blueberry supply chain, determining a strong need for research and innovation throughout the industry due to growing consumer interest [3,4,5]. The trend is positive: blueberry consumption is increasing in all European countries, especially Germany, Switzerland, the Benelux countries and Scandinavia [7]. This evolution has brought a radical change in the conception of blueberry production in Italy, generally, and in Piedmont, . There has been a shift from production in marginal areas (foothills with a function of income integration) to intentional production in lowland areas, where blueberries are the main crop of many fruit farms

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Conclusion