Designers of a mechanical asparagus picker are testing the
device in California fields, hoping to prove the machine can
efficiently harvest the delicate vegetable.
STOCKTON – Designers of a mechanical asparagus picker are testing the device in California fields, hoping to prove the machine can efficiently harvest the delicate vegetable.
Last week producers of the machine put the device on display in a San Joaquin County asparagus field as farmers looked on.
Compressed air drove the machine’s cutting blades to slice off the asparagus stalks, which were then grabbed by soft mechanical fingers that pulled them onto conveyor belts and delivered them to a bin.
The machine is a product of Geiger Manufacturing of Stockton.
Trent Ball, a research associate at the university, said the machine’s rate of production will be compared to hand picking, so that a cost-benefit analysis can determine if the project can succeed.
Engineers have long been unable to design a machine for harvesting asparagus, which is very delicate, but farmers said that rising labor costs have now made the idea more practical.
