History of Mechanical Citrus Harvesting
1990 to 2008
Field Performance Information
In the late 1990s, there were a number of mechanical harvesting systems in operation, but little independent field performance information was available. The Citrus Harvesting Research Advisory Council felt there was a need for this information in the citrus industry & contracted with IFAS/UF to collect it. From the 1999-2000 through 2003-04 seasons, this information was collected & published in annual reports to the FDOC (9-1, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4, 9-5). The reader is referred to these reports for the data collected on individual machines.
In the table below, only a brief data summary for the 2 most prominent systems (Coe Collier trunk shake catch or TSC & the Oxbo continuous travel canopy shake catch or CCSC) is shown. In general, machine productivity was calculated using the system (time) efficiency of the machine. For example, if a machine had a productivity of 300 boxes/hour for 100% run time, but had a system/time efficiency of 50% (time lost on repairs, turning at ends, etc), then the machine productivity would be 300 x 0.5 = 150 boxes/hour. System fruit recovery was the % of fruit on the tree that was actually recovered by the machine system. Hand gleaners usually followed the machine to glean fruit left on the tree & on the ground (missed the catchframe). Labor productivity was usually calculated by dividing the machine productivity by the number of machine system operators. The exception to this was for TSC for the 1999-2000 season when the machine productivity was divided by the total of the machine system operators plus gleaners. CCSC data were incomplete for the 1999-2000 season.
In general over the 5 seasons, machine & labor productivities for the CCSC steadily increased. For the TSC, machine productivity remained somewhat steady while labor productivity fluctuated somewhat, but showed increases in the last 3 seasons. For comparison purposes, conventional hand harvesters have an average labor productivity of 9 to 10 boxes/person-hour. System fruit recoveries for both the TSC & CCSC remained fairly constant at ~ 90% over the seasons.
Referenced Articles
9-1 Roka, Fritz. Performance & economic evaluation of citrus harvesting systems, 1999/2000 season
9-2 Roka, Fritz. Performance & economic evaluation of citrus harvesting systems, 2000/2001 season
9-3 Roka, Fritz. Performance & economic evaluation of citrus harvesting systems, 2001/2002 season
9-4 Roka, Fritz. Performance & economic evaluation of citrus harvesting systems, 2002/2003 season
9-5 Roka, Fritz. and B. Hyman. Performance & economic evaluation of citrus harvesting systems, 2003/2004 season
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