BEI
International Blueberry Harvesting
Horticulturalists interest in mechanical harvesting of blueberries has increased lately with the onset of new governmental labor regulations have been enacted, and as over-the-row mechanical harvesting technology has become more refined.
Hand harvesting blueberries has been estimated to costs $0.45 to $0.70 per pound and needs as much as 550 worker-hours per acre. Labor costs are projected to rise while fruit prices are expected to drop as the blueberry industry expands nationally and finding enough hand picking laborers during the peak harvest season may become difficult.
While in contrast 10,000 pounds of blueberries could be harvested with one machine in a single day. The mechanical harvesters can harvest about 10 times what a typical person can harvest in a day with a hand-held rake, swiping it through the bushes over and over for hours on end. A decade ago, about 20 percent of a state’s 60,000 acres of blueberry fields were harvested by mechanical means. Today, it's about 80 percent as growers discover that it's cheaper to replace hand pickers with more efficient machinery.
About 40 to 50 percent of cultivated blueberries are still hand-picked nationwide but the mechanization trend is happening in the dozen states where they are grown.
Mechanical Blueberry Harvesting result in lower production costs -- adding to the bottom line.
