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Already the pessimists within the industry are crying wolf in regard to harvest labour availability and we are still three or four weeks away from harvest. It is probable that it will not be all that easy to obtain good harvest labour. In general terms we cannot control the supply of seasonal labour but there are many things we do control to ensure that we get the best from it.
It is necessary to focus on the things we can control. These are:
- Harvest strategy and planning
- Picker training and motivation
- Provision of acceptable working conditions
Harvest Strategy and Planning
Accurate crop forecasts are essential if you are going to have a smooth harvest. We also need a feeling for how the fruit is going to ripen.
Indications from early season temperatures and flowering behaviour already suggest that the season will be long and drawn out. Early season pipfruit varieties are maturing about 10 to 14 days later than last year. This harvest delay is certainly going to run on into the Royal Gala and will also affect some of the Braeburn crops.
With Royal Gala in particular we saw considerable lag between upper tree flowering and lower tree flowering this year. This will mean quite a delay in harvest for the upper tree fruit relative to lower tree fruit, so where you have not been badly knocked around by frost there will not be much point in going to the upper tree for the first couple of picks. Where you have lost the early flower in the lower tree with frost there will not be the same level of maturity difference between top and bottom.
The upper tree fruit to the casual observer will look good and red at the time you start harvest, but if you look closely at it there will be greener background colour. Objective maturity tests targeted at only the upper tree fruit will also show less starch movement and higher pressure. This year it will be good strategy to carefully assess upper tree fruit for maturity before you allow the pickers to get anywhere near it. Royal Gala fruit sizes at about 1.2 grams per day, so by leaving immature fruit on for later picks there is scope to add extra value.
Where colour is good, harvest delay with Retain. is a good strategy to reduce peak harvest labour requirement and grow the fruit a little bigger.
In blocks where Braeburn and Fuji have not been affected by frost I would expect Royal Gala harvest to just about run into Braeburn and Fuji harvest this year.
There are a number of light crop areas in Braeburn because of frost injury where fruit storage will be risky. It is good policy to cull fruit from these areas from export by picking it for process.
Such picking can be done pre-harvest, or at slack times between varieties because maturity is not so critical for process fruit.
Picker Training and Motivation
The first variety to be harvested is always slow going. Pickers often have not done it before and for those with more experience it always takes a day or two to get into the rhythm.
Over the years we have run coaching programmes for pickers and have seen huge increases in harvest productivity from simply teaching a few basic harvesting skills. Even more efficiency can be squeezed out of the system by making sure that the logistics of harvest are well organised.
Pickers, particularly new ones, need to be confident in what they are doing. Key areas which need addressing include:
Ladder Handling
Includes positioning relative to the tree and the most efficient way to change its position.
Clear instruction on which fruit to pick
What size, what colour. Note colour blindness affecting distinguishing red from green occurs and may affect the pickers ability to distinguish fruit by colour. A good way to guide pickers is to give them a fruit line up of what you want and don't want with the fruit attached to a short length of timber with nails driven through it, onto which the fruit sample can be spiked to hold it in place.
Picking Logistics
Teach them to always go to the top of the ladder with an empty bag, then top up the bag once they pick their way down the ladder by working off the ground clearing the way for the next ladder shift.
One Picker per between-row alley
The most efficient picking comes from having only one picker per row. He should zig zag his way down the row picking half way through the trees on each side of the row alley. In large blocks with multiple picks it is not a bad idea to have the pickers responsible for the same rows at each harvesting pass. This quickly teaches them to do it right, because next time around they are advantaged or disadvantaged depending on how good a job was done the first time round.
Correct handling to minimise damage
Fruit placement in the picking bucket, and emptying the bucket into the bin are the steps in the picking process with potential to bruise or puncture the fruit.
Make sure they understand this and quickly develop fruit placement and picking bag emptying practices which minimise fruit injury.
Bonus systems for quality and attendance
Poor attendance and a slack attitude to fruit quality are a perennial problem with pickers. Some orchardists have developed good incentive systems to combat these two problems.
I have also known growers who pick all their crop by hourly wage rates and no contract payments at all with excellent results and similar per carton costs to those who pick the crop by bin contract rates.
There are also some who use a combination hourly rates with bin based incentives if certain quality and quantity parameters are met.
Acceptable working conditions
This is a key factor for retaining pickers and maximizing performance.
Pickers are there to pick fruit. Make sure everything is ready for them to start when they arrive there.
Bin placement and bin movement down the row as picking progresses is absolutely critical. At the start of the row the bin needs to be positioned 15 m or so into the block, then moved 25 to 30 metres per shift so that the picker never has to walk much more than 12 to 15 metres from tree to bin.
Working and shifting ladders in tall grass and amongst weeds is hard work, and painful if a goodly number of thistles or stinging nettles happen to belong to the weed population. Make sure the orchard is well mown and the weeds are down by harvest.
Provide toilets and convenient rest areas.
It is hot weather during harvest. Supplying plenty of drinking water helps combat dehydration and fatigue.
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