Harvesting pears mechanically… a new approach to fruit collection

Mechanical harvesting of Bartlett pears appears practical, and economically feasible, with the collector-decelerator system showing the greatest potential, according to these tests. As with any harvest operation, yield, fruit losses, fruit quality and harvest rate are extremely important. Acceptable fruit quality has been achieved with this experimental equipment, and it is believed that commercial machines could be produced to equal or exceed this performance.