Vineyard machinery update

Wines & Vines, Feb, 2003 by Tina Caputo

With pruning season in full swing, harvest may be the last thing on your mind. While you may prefer to think about taking care of the vines as they rest in dormant slumber, now is the time to consider replacing some of that old vineyard machinery for something better, faster or more efficient. To help you sort through the options, we asked major suppliers of vineyard machinery to tell us about their latest and greatest products and innovations.

Mechanical Harvesting

According to our interview sources, more and more U.S. wineries are turning to mechanical harvesting equipment. Jerry Beebe, sales representative for West Cal Tractor, which offers Korvan and John Deere equipment, said this is happening for a number of important reasons. "Mechanical harvesters offer huge cost savings to the grower because they can harvest an entire crop with as few as five people: one to drive, two tractor drivers hauling gondolas, one to load and unload gondolas and one extra pair of eyes to help ensure that the machine is performing as expected."

Speed is another factor, Beebe said. "At a picking speed of 2 miles per hour and above, the grower can remove the fruit at a very fast pace. With wineries dictating delivery times and holding the grower to them, mechanical harvesting gives the grower the ability to deliver on their time frame, a chilled, clean product first thing in the morning, while hand pickers are just getting started. Most growers report a per-ton picking cost savings of over $150. At 6 tons to the acre, that's $900 per acre. There are also no labor issues, like workman's compensation, contract issues or strikes."

According to Beebe, today's mechanical harvesters also deliver better-tasting grapes. "Block to block, tank to tank, bottle to bottle, cork to cork comparisons have shown that machine-harvested grapes produce a cleaner taste," he said. "Winemakers attribute this to the lack of (bitter-tasting) stems present in the gondola. It saves everybody money, time and effort."

Matt Eiser of Euro-Machines, Inc., a company that began producing CNH BRAUD grape harvesters in the '80s, shared a similar opinion. "Field tests have proved that our harvesters are even more effective than hand pickers, which leave fruit on the vine or dropped on the ground," Eiser said. "We offer destemmers on the harvesting head that deliver fruit cleaner than hand picked and handle up to 25 tons per hour.

Trends

In addition to the increase in mechanical harvesting, our sources pointed to a number of emerging trends in vineyard and harvest equipment.

Andrew Peters, operations manager for Western Square Industries, Inc., a California company specializing in harvest bins and trailers, said the element of time has become increasingly important in the vineyard. "Customers are demanding shorter lead times," Peters said. "Normally, we would like three to five weeks to fill orders, but in 2002 customers were calling and looking for delivery in one to three days. Our success this past harvest was based on our ability to respond to the customer."

Peters said that customization is another widespread trend. "Customers are looking for customization of standard products to meet their unique needs," he said. "By working with our customers we are identifying features that we can offer as options on our standard products."

According to Wayne Edmunds of S&A Manufacturing, a California spreader and sprayer company, vine spacing trends have also had a major impact on the industry. "The trend that has most impacted our equipment is the planting of the vines in narrow rows, necessitating smaller tractors and application equipment," Edmunds said.

In addition to all the positive developments in the industry, Beebe of West Cal Tractor said he has noticed a not-so-encouraging trend in harvest machinery--overly complicated electronics. "Imported machines are becoming very complex," Beebe explained. "With onboard computers and multiple electronic systems, these machines have proven to be quite a challenge to maintain, clean, service, adjust and operate, as well as perform any major repairs on. Specialty products only available from manufacturers put the end-user in a difficult position when they find their grape harvester is down. Local part stores can't help, and in most cases, some minor as well as all major repairs will have to be performed by a manufacturer's qualified technician.

New Products

After years of testing, Beebe reported, Korvan is now marketing a new grape harvester for quad trellis systems. "The machine does not work as a 'trunk shaker' which is very damaging to the vine and trellis," he explained. "It uses an Orbirotor picking head, which can pick almost three times as fast as trunk shaker models (and causes) no vine damage or trellis damage when set up and operated correctly. Less leaves coming off the vine equate to a clean finished product. Over the last three harvests the Orbirotor has been proven to put undamaged, fully intact grapes in the gondola, leaving the stem. Korvan is comfortable with the machine's performance and reliability and it will be actively marketed from this point forward." The harvester sells for approximately $140,000.