2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Fresh-market strawberries are very perishable, and virtually 100% are hand-harvested. Strawberry growers face increasingly tighter labor supplies, driving up harvest costs and increasing the risk of labor shortages to complete a full harvest. A mechanical harvest technology could simultaneously lessen growers’ dependence on manual labor, reduce harvesting costs, and improve their overall competitiveness. Herein, we present several mechanical strawberry harvest solutions for most commercially grown varieties. Some technologies do not require growers to radically change the way they currently grow strawberries, and they can solve the urgent labor shortage problem.