Fruit picking
Manual harvesting of fruit
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- 4 chapters
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Through Recreation, Harvest and Fruit
Types of fruit
Apple picking
Apple picking is an activity found at apple farms. Apple orchards may be opened to the public, allowing consumers to pick their own apples or purchase pre-picked apples.
Although it is ultimately a method of purchasing apples, apple picking is often a social activity as well. Apple picking is often a very popular dating ritual in the American Midwest. Apple orchards catering to a family outing will provide additional activities beyond the picking of apples. Many have petting zoos, restaurants, corn mazes and country shops that sell related products such as home-made jams and jellies. This aspect of the activity is especially popular in parts of North America where orchards are common, such as the Northeastern United States, Southern Ontario, Southern Québec and Nova Scotia in Canada.
The apples that fall off the trees are often used to make apple cider. Apple cider is a juice made by grinding the apples, then pressing out the juice.
There are several tests that are used to determine apple fruit maturity, and these will be described throughout this article. But before performing any measurement, the first step is to know how to collect a representative fruit sample from the orchard block.
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Workers
Most fruit picking is done by migrant workers, who can be paid relatively low wages. In California, Mexican migrants most frequently do the work. There has been much controversy about replacing workers with automation. It puts many out of work.
In Australia and New Zealand, people engaging in backpacker tourism do a lot of the fruit-picking work while on a working holiday visa. The Australian government encourages people on this visa to do this sort of work for a minimum of three months so they can add another year to their visa. This benefit does not apply to all parts of Australia - one must undertake work in selected post-code areas to become eligible for the extra year.
Monoculture orchards can face particular labor-timetable issues.
Automation
As labor costs add significantly to the overall cost of fruit production, robots are being designed to replace humans for this kind of work. By 2007 the research was in full progress, with engineers focusing on careful design so that the robots do not bruise the fruit while picking. One solution is the use of suction grippers. Citrus fruit robot pickers have thus far been the focus of research and development, but cherry pickers are also being researched.