BEI
International Raisin Harvesting
Many raisin growers have smallish 40-acre vineyards, but new plantings of raisins that are to be harvested mechanically, as well as retrofitting existing vineyards for mechanical harvesting, is expected to result in a third of the raisin grapes in 2004 being picked with some form of machine and increase each year thereafter. The most popular labor-saving device today being a mechanical harvesting machine that shakes off grapes or Raisins dried-on-the-vine (DOV) are quickly harvested and have less risk of rain damage.
With as much as 50 percent of the California raisin crop mechanically harvested at about $75 per acre the difference between selling green and making raisins has shrunk by at least half. Plus, with mechanical harvesters and continuous tray drying in traditional vineyards, growers can easily make late season decisions whether they make raisins or sell green.
