TECHNOLOGY FOR IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF MECHANICAL HARVESTING IN MODERN OLIVE GROWING

L.M. Ravetti
The modern olive industry has been expanding at a steady pace during the past twenty years and relies almost entirely on the total mechanisation of grove management for competitiveness. Consequently, achieving high levels of efficiency is necessary for the profitability of the industry. A broader approach to harvesting efficiency considers it as a ratio between an amount of valuable resource produced (P) and an amount of valuable resources consumed (C), where P considers the total amount of fruit harvested, the oil produced from this fruit, the quality of the oil and its impact on price as well as fruit losses due to natural fruit drop and impact on next year’s crop and C considers all factors affecting harvesting costs such as type of harvester, harvester speed, length of harvest, fruit removal ratio and time losses amongst others. Mechanical harvesting with trunk shakers has been the most reliable method for reducing labour costs for the past 30 years. Nonetheless, during the past decade modern large-scale groves have discovered some of the limitations of using discontinuous systems. A new generation of continuous harvesting machines has been adapted or developed and used in many olive-growing regions. The performance of large straddle harvesters in comparison with shakers has been evaluated measuring speed of operation, efficiency of fruit removal, canopy damage, trunk damage, net harvest time and cost of operation. While shakers are viable options for small scale operations or a complementary tool for large operations in light cropping situations, straddle harvesters are more competitive for large scale intensive groves with high levels of production. The high levels of efficiency obtained early in the season allow straddle harvesters to carry out a timely harvest while minimising the negative impact that a late harvest has on olive oil quality and on next season’s production.
Ravetti, L.M. (2014). TECHNOLOGY FOR IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF MECHANICAL HARVESTING IN MODERN OLIVE GROWING. Acta Hortic. 1057, 221-229
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1057.26
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1057.26
harvest, Olea europaea, mechanisation, shaker, straddle harvester
English

Acta Horticulturae