Smith, Dave :

Rosa, Uriel A

Ferguson, Louise

Smith Annual Report 2008 , California Olive Committee Development and Performance Evaluation of the DSE Mechanical Olive Harvester Project Leader Dave Smith , P.O . Box 639 , Exeter , CA 93221 ; dsedave @ yahoo.com Cooperators Uriel Rosa , Department of Bioagricultural and Mechanical Engineering , UC Davis , Davis , CA ; uarosa @ ucdavis.edu Louise Ferguson , Department of Plant Sciences , UC Davis , Davis , CA ; LFerguson @ ucdavis.edu Project Year : Harvest 2008 INTRODUCTION Confronting the problem of mechanical olive harvesting is a unique endeavor because there are many aspects to be considered . The olive harvested for table quality must meet specific criteria â?? limited bruising , no cuts , holes , or abrasions with an overall pristine appearance . Unfortunately , the olive fruit does bruise and damage easily . Therefore , with these characteristics in mind every care must be taken to lessen that possibility . Another consideration is harvester efficiency with overall fruit removal . It remains imperative that percentage of fruit removal be optimized with regard to optimum ground speed of machine . The mechanical olive harvester must become a viable option to hand - harvested fruit if the industry is to survive . No longer can olive farmers afford to maintain their orchards properly with the ever accelerating cost of chemicals , fuel , maintenance , and the most costly of all the expenditures for harvest . Because harvest is the most costly with it being approximately 50 % of a growerâ??s total annual cultural outlay , mechanical harvesting becomes a viable option . The perfection of the harvester therefore becomes imperative . OBJECTIVES Improve performance of the DSE 007 olive harvester by incorporating required design changes resulting form 2007 field testing by : 1 . Developing a fruit collection ( catching efficiency ) system that collects > 95 % of harvested fruit ; 2 . Lowering fruit damage to â?? processor acceptable â?쳌 levels ; and 3 . Maintaining > 95 % fruit removal from well - trained trees . PROCEDURES Objective 1 . Develop a fruit collection system that collects > 95 % of harvested fruit * Design and fabricate independent , tractor - towed , opposing side - catcher , and fruit - transfer system with bin at rear . * Fabricate and install low profile , belt - driven catcher system . 85 Smith Annual Report 2008 , California Olive Committee * Engineer and install new style collector belts . * Redesign trash and brush removal system . * Test system in well pruned orchards established and provided in Louise Fergusonâ??s project â?쳌 Developing of Mechanical Harvesting for California Olives â?쳌 2007 - 2010 . Objective 2 . Lower fruit damage to â?? processor acceptable â?쳌 level * Retrofit rear delivery belt to blower with soft - cleated belt to reduce fruit damage . * Fabricate picking head enclosures to reduce fruit travel and bounce . * Test system in well pruned orchards established and provided in Louise Fergusonâ??s project . Objective 3 . Maintain > 95 % fruit removal from well trained trees . * Re - design picking heads : Engineer and fabricate to allow greater penetration into tree . More efficient harvesting with less amplitude . Modify heads to reduce rod - gap between heads with new style rod holders and additional rod angle pitch to better access fruit on well - pruned trees . * Test system in well pruned orchards established and provided in Louise Fergusonâ??s project . RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The new collector system that was developed and installed on the mechanical harvester and opposite side tractor - towed secondary catcher proved to be very efficient . Movement of the harvested fruit to the rear bin was much improved with the low profile belt collector system . Given the nature of the belt material and the low profile concept , fruit bruising was minimal . Brush removal at the rear of harvester was greatly improved with the use of cleated rough top belting , but complete trash removal from harvested olives still remains a problem and will be addressed in the 2009 harvest season . With our ongoing research into the perfect trash removal system , it appears that the concept used in pistachio harvesters may prove more efficient . The pyramid - designed padding and brush concept on belt edges between the conveyors stopped fruit bruising in these areas . This feature made the harvester self - cleaning because fruit were directed to the end location with gentle ease . Fruit were not retained on the belting system as result of these measures . CONCLUSIONS We have exhausted the three headed shaker design with numerous changes and come to the conclusion that no matter what the configuration , there still remains a rod gap problem that cannot be changed due to physical limitations . This problem may only be remedied by adapting two Studer style shaker heads . There would be no rod gap between heads if installed utilizing a concave design . These heads also allow for better operator control because only two joy sticks are necessary to function properly . The 2008 harvest season produced excellent results . With the implementation of important changes , fruit bruising was held to a minimum while harvested fruit were guided to collection bins as designed . It was determined that optimum ground speeds were essential and should not 86 Smith Annual Report 2008 , California Olive Committee exceed 0.25 mph . Maintaining the proper speed produced maximum fruit removal . Above the optimum speed , fruit was bypassed and left on the tree . Overall harvested fruit quality was excellent with minimal fruit damage and superior pack out reports . FUNDING SOURCES The 2008 Mechanical Harvester Project was funded by the California Olive Committee . 87