Agriculture

Early projections for the 2019 orange market in the U.S. predicted a rebound in production compared to the previous year. Nearly 5 million tons of the fruit were forecast to be picked by the end of the season.

Animal feed producers invest heavily in material handling equipment — particularly in systems designed for flowable materials. Ideally, grains and other flowable ingredients will remain within the automated line: Storage bins, conveyors, mixers, mills, crushers, pelleting machines, and, finally, baggers or other packaging systems.

This year’s Texas onion harvest could create huge opportunities in the export market, but only if growers move quickly. Chinese onion buyers source their products from New Zealand beginning in the early spring, and soon, Texans will be left with nothing but the domestic market.

Mechanical apple harvesting could be the key to improving yields — or even, in an era of labor shortages, the orchard's very solvency — but more efficient picking won't do any good if the rest of the operation can't keep up. To take full advantage of mechanized harvests, farmers must be able to quickly move apples to packing houses without bruising or otherwise damaging the fruit.

A food system at any scale contains all the processes, infrastructure, labor, equipment, and institutions that bring food from farm to fork. No matter how complex the supply system may be, each step along the way affects every other step. Therefore, improving efficiency on a local level can have an outsized effect on the entire food system.

Farm safety is a top priority among agricultural operators in the United States, but despite all efforts to the contrary, farm work remains one of the most dangerous occupations in the country. This danger is compounded by the peculiar nature of farming; whole families may work the same land, exposing potential caregivers to the same injuries that would render them caregivers in the first place. In other words, on an unsafe farm, whole families can be injured badly enough to lose their livelihoods.

Wood harvest bins have been the industry standard for decades, if not longer, but plastic harvest bins have been turning up in more and more fields as the seasons pass. Each material has advantages and disadvantages, but in the end, plastic is the clear winner — provided it’s the right sort of plastic.

Organic produce requires very careful postharvest-handling strategies. For good or for ill, this is a premium product, and even aesthetic compromises on quality affects its salability. More importantly, there's the food-safety issue, as improper handling at harvest can spread pathogens and other contaminants, which is clearly unacceptable for organic farmers and their customers.

At harvest, commercial growers of fruits and vegetables have two major goals, both of which hinge on quality produce handling equipment: They must prevent any contamination or degradation of the product, and they must quickly move bulk field containers to the packing house.

All dairy farmers should provide staff with automated equipment that lifts and tilts loads. Here's why:

Dairy cows need about 90 pounds of food and between 25 and 50 gallons of water every day, according to the American Dairy Association North East. In exchange for these daily necessities, milk cows produce around six or seven gallons of milk per day — as well as 2.5 cubic feet of manure.