October 2020 - 6

products company Sonoco. Wishnaki said
investors represent roughly 70% of the
U.S. strawberry industry, in addition to
private equity.
" It's a collaborative effort, " he said.
The Harvest CROO has been fieldtested
on G&D Farms, a 600-acre Florida
strawberry farm owned by Wishnatzki.
There are some differentiations between
Red-handed robots
Automated harvesters power up for strawberries
The Harvest CROO strawberry picker. Photo: Gary Wishnatzki
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
Automated strawberry harvests are
taking place in select fields of California
and Florida, as the robots become more
commercial and less experimental.
The California Polytechnical University's
Strawberry Center in late August
conducted a virtual field day with updates
on equipment. It wasn't just about the
robots; presentations from researchers
included plans for improved lygus bug
vacuums and tools for punching transplant
holes into plastic bed covers.
" Now, more than ever, strawberry
growers are looking toward technology
for solutions, said researcher John Lin,
who heads up the robotics projects for the
Strawberry Center.
The field day included updates of
strawberry harvester projects from three
firms: Advanced.farm, Harvest CROO
and Traptic. Here are some updates on
those three harvesters, in the words of
their developers:
Harvest CROO
After several years of development,
the investment group led by Gary
Wishnatzki of Wish Farms anticipates
its Harvest CROO robot will soon
participate in commercial harvests.
" Our expectation is we will be
commercially picking fresh berries this
coming season with the one prototype we
have, " Wishnatzki told Vegetable Growers
News. " We did do some commercial
picking for processed berries last season,
on a small scale, but our expectation is
we'll be doing more widespread use this
coming season. "
If the harvest goes well, the group plans
to build a small fleet of the machines
for the following year and begin
commercializing the product, he said.
He's the co-founder and managing
partner of Harvest CROO Robotics,
which now includes investments from
brands across the industry, such as
Driscoll's, Naturipe and the packaging
the Harvest CROO and other ventures,
Wishnatzki said. First, the Harvest CROO,
like Traptic and Advanced.farm, are built
to harvest conventional strawberry fields
that are standard for U.S. growers, while
other developers are exploring robotics
alongside modified growing systems such
as elevated beds.
" Those systems only work if you're able
to sell berries for a much higher price
than we're currently able to sell berries
for, " Wishnatzki said. Second, while some
groups are describing their projects as
" harvest aids, " his team is attempting to
match the thoroughness of humans.
" We're attempting to do it where
we clear as many berries as human
harvesters, " Wishnatzki said. The Harvest
CROO is being developed alongside a
system for sorting out the bad berries.
" Somebody asked me early on, when will
I declare a success for this, and I said,
'When we have parity with humans.' And
we currently see a path to that right now.
With these corrective actions we're doing
this summer, I believe we'll have parity
with humans, so that's a major claim,
once we're able to do that. We're not quite
there, yet, but we do see the path to ...
being there by next season. "
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October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2020
