Elderberry Mechanical Harvest
Objective
Improve Harvest and Post-harvest Handling Efficiency
The objective is to greatly improve the efficiency of elderberry harvest by increasing the capture of the highest quality fruit while significantly reducing harvest labor inputs.
There is tremendous potential to improve the efficiency of these operations by adopting new technologies that offer varying degrees of automation/mechanization, particularly for in-field operations.
In the Orchard
- Fruit removal/detaching
- Collection
- Sorting
- Containerization
In the Packing House
- De-stemming
- Sorting
- Processing
- Sanitization
- Packing
- Storage
Our Goal
The ultimate goal of the mechanical harvest program is to provide a systematic mechanical and automated solution for elderberry harvest from the field to the processing house.
Therefore, we investigate semi-mechanical or mechanical-assist solution for elderberry harvest from the field to the processing house. We also investigate semi-mechanical or mechanical-assist solutions with the potential of selective harvest. These systems focus on reducing the time needed for collecting and transporting fruits rather than autonomously removing fruits.
Full-mechanical solutions are already available for other berry crops such as blueberry, grapes, and raspberry.