Mechanized Blueberry Harvesting: Preliminary Results in the Italian Context

Luca Brondino, Danielle Borra, Nicole Roberta Giuggioli and Stefano Massaglia
Additional contact information
Luca Brondino: Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Torino, 10095 Torino, Italy
Danielle Borra: Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Torino, 10095 Torino, Italy
Nicole Roberta Giuggioli: Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Torino, 10095 Torino, Italy
Stefano Massaglia: Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DISAFA), University of Torino, 10095 Torino, Italy

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: This study reports some preliminary results on mechanical blueberry harvesting for the fresh market of cv. Cargo ® in the Piedmont region (northwest Italy). The investigated area is one of the most productive areas of Italy, which specializes in fresh blueberry production. The automatization of harvesting operations could represent a competitive advantage for the area’s blueberry supply chain but could limit the quality of fresh-picked berries. A prototype machine and a commercial harvester (Easy Harvester ® ) were compared with manual picking, considering the harvesting efficiency, labor productivity, harvesting cost and farm rentability. In this context, the labor cost for manual harvesting exceeds EUR 2.00 per kg of saleable product. The prototype allowed a 39% cost reduction, and the Easy Harvester ® reduced it by about half. Nevertheless, these positive performances do not consider the reduction in the net sale price of EUR 0.40 due to the selection costs in the warehouse. In this study, we highlight that the transition to mechanical harvesting requires the transformation of several farming and packhouse operations, such as new crop varieties, field configurations and cultivation techniques. However, a possible technical improvement of the Easy Harvester ® could represent an opportunity for Italian farms in the planning of berry production and marketing, involving all of the supply chain actors. Further research on the use of mechanization in the sector must continue and be supported.

Keywords: Vaccinium corymbosum; innovation; harvest; production; cost; prototype (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/12/1197/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/12/1197/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:12:p:1197-:d:689634

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().