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POMOLOGICAL PARAGRAPH 



CA Storage Hazard - The June 18, 1963 issue of Produce News carried a 

 story about two men that nearly lost their lives by wandering into a 

 CA room. The storage manager stated that the room was well marked and 

 the reasons for danger stated. 



Let's prevent this happening in Massachusetts! Apparently signs 

 will not do the job. 



- - William J. Lord 

 ******** 



MECHANIZING THE HARVESTING AND HANDLING OF APPLES 



William J. Lord 

 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences 



Most efficiencies in apple production have been made in the grow- 

 ing, storage and selling operations. As a result, harvesting costs 

 make up a large share of the total cost of raising apples. A study of 

 49 apple enterprises in Ulster County, New York, in 1962, showed that 

 harvesting costs averaged approximately 45 cents per bushel where yields 

 were about 350 bushels per acre. (Fruit-Farm Management Letter, No. 9, 

 March 24, 1963 - B. F. Stanton and B. A. Dominick, Jr. , Department of 

 Agricultural Economics, Cornell University) 



Picking costs were approximately 40 per cent of the total cost of 

 harvesting. Other harvest labor, including such jobs as distributing 

 boxes prior to harvest, leveling boxes, hauling fruit to storage, and 

 supervision of labor crews accounted for 30 per cent of the harvest 

 costs. The other cost items were: harvest equipment - 2 per cent, 

 housing labor - 5 per cent, truck and tractor - 6 per cent, and con- 

 tainers - 17 per cent. 



Stantons' and Dominicks' studies show that approximately 70 per 

 cent of the harvest cost is labor. The increasing difficulty of obtaining 

 labor and the high cost when it is available is a problem of increasing 

 magnitude in all agriculture. 



Research on Mechanization of Fruit Harvest 



Research on mechanizing the harvesting and handling of fruits has 

 in(!reased many fold the last 10 to 15 years. Today, studies are current- 

 ly being conducted on the mechanical handling and harvesting of apples, 

 peaches, apricots, prunes, dates, citrus, grapes, and blueberries. 



A. R. S. Special Report, United States Department of Agriculture, 

 22-88 published in February, 1964 discusses the progress that research 



