Breakthrough in strawberry harvesting

 

 

Faced with the ever increasing issues in the labour market, Glass House Mountains strawberry farmer Ray Daniels of SunRay Strawberries Pty Ltd, on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane, discovered a solution to the challenges faced by strawberry growers while listening to a presentation on robotic harvesting by agricultural engineer Rudi Bartels at a strawberry growers meeting in 2007.

 

He realised the potential of being able to cut his itinerant workforce by up to 80 percent, with associated productivity benefits. Ray Daniels joined forces with Rudi Bartels to create the company Magnificent Pty Ltd which is pioneering robotic harvesting technology in Australia.

 

“Horticulture is a labour intensive industry and while the strawberry price has remained largely stagnant over the past 15 years, labour costs have doubled,” Ray Daniels said. “With extremely few Australians willing to take on this demanding seasonal work, we are almost completely dependant on overseas workers to harvest our crops". “We require 140 staff each season to harvest 1,000 tonnes of strawberries". “Labour costs account for 56pc percent of our total production costs.”

 

The large itinerant and seasonal labour force also brings many management issues including recruitment, payroll administration, social issues, language barriers, training and supervision costs, as well as the need to provide accommodation, transport and medical care.

 

“This revolutionary robotic harvester will allow us to pick straight into punnets which will reduce the majority of our wages bill and remove the need for a packing shed,” Mr Daniels said.