Strawberry harvest a test ground for robotic solutions
Labor costs and worker shortages have pushed growers to search for harvest alternatives, a trend which one Canadian robotic startup is using to develop robotic solutions for fruit growers.
According to a report in BNN Bloomberg Canada, Neupeak Robotics is using strawberry harvesting as a seeding ground to test “intelligent” arms capable of nestling through busy leaves, spotting the red flesh and plucking the berry. While leaving the calyz intact.
The British Columbia based firm is led by co-founder Anshul Porwal, who recalls starting his journey cold calling growers to pitch the idea. Porwal had heard predictions that the industry is five to ten years away from being unviable in North America if minimum wages kept rising.
“They wanted me to come over the next day with robots that can be put to work,” he said. “You can see how desperate these farmers are.”
Alf Krause, the owner operator of Krause Berry Farms said that wage increases of ten to fifteen percent per year are threatening his cost structure. The report points out that California is living a similar situation,
“We have increasing minimum wages and overtime laws so it’s putting additional pressure on our growers,” said John Lin, production automation manager with the California Strawberry Commission.
In California, up to 65% of production costs in strawberry harvesting is spent on labor, which amounts to US$2.3billion per year.
Lin notes that while agri-tech or robotic solutions are common for harvesting high-acre crops like corn, wheat and soy, it’s only within the last five years that large investments have been made in automation for specialty crops like berries.
Strawberries in particular, being popular fruit, have been a focus for innovation and technology developments across the entire lifecycle of the fruit.
To read the full story, visit BNN Bloomberg Canada.