“Made It Myself” Broccoli Harvester

“Made It Myself” Broccoli Harvester CROPS Miscellaneous Former software engineer and now Oregon farmer Ron Pearmine built a custom broccoli harvester from a 42-year-old mechanical bean picker He got the idea after seeing robotic welding equipment at a manufacturing plant reasoning that if robots could weld a machine should also be able to pick broccoli His first attempt 5 years ago was far from successful Pearmine says but he wasn’t deterred Two years ago he built a new prototype from a 1976 model Chisholm-Ryder bean picker His plan is to have the machine harvest 80 acres on his farm and if it works like he thinks it will other growers may hire him to harvest acreage on their farms Pearmine says he built the machine because like many vegetable farmers these days he’s faced with a labor shortage to harvest his valuable vegetable crop Hand-picking crews of 20 or more people are usually needed to go across a broccoli field 2 or 3 times to get the most production from a crop That labor is expensive because of Oregon’s wage laws Pearmine says his machine can substantially reduce harvesting costs though it does have the drawback of harvesting all the flowers at once rather than 3 times with hand picking Still the savings outweigh the negatives A local processing company says the produce that Pearmine is delivering is as good or better than hand-picked broccoli and that brings a smile to Pearmine’s face He says it has been a long haul to get the machine to where he wants it but other growers are excited and the product they’re supplying the market is very good Pearmine says that as recently as 2012 there were more than 2 000 acres of broccoli production in Oregon but in 2018 that number was closer to 1 000 He hopes his machine will help increase that acreage Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Ron Pearmine 12223 River Road N E Gervais Oregon 97026 ph 503 393-4634; www facebook com/pearminefarms

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.