Ferguson, Louise

Burns, Jackie :

Guinard, Jean-Xavier

Rosa, Uriel A

Castro Garcia,, Sergio :

Glozer Dr, Kitren

Krueger, William H

O'Connell, Neil V

Fichtner, Elizabeth J

Ferguson, John :

Suarez Garcia, Maria Paz :

Ferguson , et al . Annual Report , California Olive Committee : Overview Developing Mechanical Harvesting for California Black Ripe Processed Table Olives : 2007 - 2010 : Year 3 / 4 Progress Report Project Leaders : Louise Ferguson , Extension Specialist , Department of Plant Sciences , 2037 Wickson Hall , Mail Stop II , UC Davis , 1 Shields Ave . , Davis CA 95616 , ( 530 ) 752 - 0507 [ Office ] , ( 559 ) 737 - 3061 [ Mobile ] , LFerguson @ ucdavis.edu Jackie Burns , Professor , Department of Horticulture , University of Florida , JKBU @ ufl.edu Jean - Xavier Guinard , Professor , Department of Food Science and Technology , UC Davis , JXGuinard @ ucdavis.edu Uriel Rosa , Associate Professor , Department of Bioagricultural and Mechanical Engineering , UC Davis , UARosa @ ucdavis.edu Cooperating Personnel : Sergio Castro Garcia , Visiting Scientist from University of Cordoba , Spain Kitren Glozer , Associate Project Scientist , UC Davis William H . Krueger , UCCE Farm Advisor , Glenn County Neil Oâ??Connell , UCCE Farm Advisor , Tulare County Elizabeth J . Ficthner , UCCE Farm Advisor , Tulare County John Henry Ferguson , Volunteer Maria Paz Suarez Garcia , Visiting Scientist from University of Seville , Spain Industry Cooperators Ranch Cooperators Harvester Cooperators Processor Cooperators Rocky Hill Ranch Agright Bell Carter Olives Erick Nielsen Ranch Erick Nielsen Inc . Musco Family Olive Company Reporting Period : 15 April â?? 31 December 31 , 2009 ( year 3 / 4 ) ABSTRACT This is the third of a four - year project to develop economically feasible mechanical harvesting for California black ripe Manzanillo table olives . The project has simultaneously focused on three factors : 1 ) harvesting technology ; 2 ) adapting current orchards with mechanical pruning and developing new hedgerow orchards ; and 3 ) screening for an abscission agent to increase harvester efficiency by decreasing fruit removal force ( FRF ) . The limiting factors to successful mechanical harvesting are , in order of importance , processed fruit quality , harvester removal efficiency , and economically feasible harvester operating parameters ( harvest time and cost per ton ) that produce a positive net return . Research from 2006 through 2009 demonstrated that both canopy contact heads and trunk shakers can produce olives with canning percentages and adjusted values per ton equal to those of hand 1 Ferguson , et al . Annual Report , California Olive Committee : Overview harvested olives . In this 2009 report , the data produced by Dr . JX Guinard and MS . Soh Min Lee , Ph D candidate , definitively demonstrated that neither trained sensory nor consumer panels could distinguish 2008 canopy contact head mechanically harvested olives from hand harvested olives . Similar results are expected this year when the 2009 trunk shaker harvested olives are evaluated by the same sensory and consumer panels . Therefore the most limiting factor , competitive fruit quality , has been eliminated . The next most limiting factor is achieving the needed 80 % final harvester removal efficiency . Thus far , the final efficiencies achieved with the different canopy contact harvesters are as follows : DSE , 58 % , Agright Olivia , 67 % and 97 % for the MaqTec Colossus . However , the latter produced virtually 100 % fruit damage . The trunk shaking harvesters have produced the following final harvest efficiencies , ENE Inc , 65 % , Spanish Noli , 70 % , Coe Machinery , 68 % and Spanish wraparound , 62 % . Therefore , none of the harvesters have achieved the needed final harvest efficiencies . Research in 2010 will again focus on improving the harvesters and harvester operating parameters . The harvesters evaluated will be the ENE Inc . trunk shaker and the Oxbo canopy contact head harvester . Both were selected based on prior performance , and have catch frames . The Oxbo does not have the high weight and tree height limitations of the Colossus and Agright canopy contact over the row harvesters . However , improving the harvester is not the only way to improve harvester efficiency . As can be seen in the successful example of Californiaâ??s high - density olive oil orchards , the tree can be adapted to make fruit more accessible to the harvester with pruning and training into hedgerows . Thus far , our long term mechanical hedging and topping trial , in the second of 6 years is not demonstrating significant cumulative yield losses . However , in 2009 , when yields were very low , the mechanically pruned trees did have significantly lower yields than the hand pruned control trees . The long term training trial at Nickels Soils Laboratory is demonstrating 9 - year - old trees trained to a trellis can yield as well as conventionally pruned trees . Our third objective , screening for abscission chemicals has not produced any viable candidates . This experimental approach for this objective will be reexamined and a new approach developed . INTRODUCTION Why mechanical harvesting of California black ripe table olives is needed The California table olive industry will need to develop mechanical harvesting for economic survival . If hand harvesting costs $ 350.00 / ton and growers receive $ 875.00 / ton harvest costs are consuming 40 % of the gross returns . Using these figures growers must produce 5 tons / acre to net $ 81.00 / acre after all costs ; see page 15 of the online cost study at http : / / coststudies.ucdavis.edu / files / olivesv09 . pdf . Further , current economic conditions and immigration enforcement efforts suggest manual labor pools will decrease . Even if they do not , the logistics and administration of seasonal manual labor are difficult . Thus , developing mechanical harvesting is both an economic and logistical necessity for the California black ripe processed table olive industry . Why mechanical harvesting is difficult to develop Olives destined for California black ripe table processing are harvested physiologically immature ; the abscission zone between the fruit and stem is undeveloped . The fruit is borne on 2 Ferguson , et al . Annual Report , California Olive Committee : Overview pendulous , flexible , vertical shoots at the outer periphery of a thick canopy that can significantly damp much of the force applied to it . To remove an immature individual 5 - 10 gram olive fruit can require a kilogram of pull force . Generation of this much force can damage the olive and the tree branches or trunk . How we are approaching developing mechanical harvesting We are approaching developing mechanical harvesting by simultaneously evaluating the components of mechanical harvesting : 1 ) Picking technology and associated harvester ; 2 ) Olive tree training and orchard spacing ; and 3 ) Screening abscission compounds for decreasing FRF . Research progress from 2006 through 2009 . The three areas of research identified above must all overcome the same limiting factors for successful mechanical harvesting of table olives . These are , in order of importance ; 1 ) processed fruit quality ; 2 ) harvester removal efficiency ; and 3 ) economically feasible harvester operating parameters ; harvest times and costs per ton and acre , which produce a positive net return . Our progress from 2006 through 2009 is summarized below . Picking technology and associated harvester . The two major methods of picking technology investigated thus far are canopy contact heads and trunk shakers . Our observations are that canopy contact heads remove exterior fruit more efficiently . Trunk shakers remove the fruit closer to the tree trunk more efficiently . For both , the major limiting factor of fruit damage has been overcome . Tree branch damage from the canopy contact head and trunk damage from the shaker have also been largely eliminated . However , both picking technologies are marginally efficient in terms of final % fruit removal . Both are achieving less than the 80 % final removal efficiency Dr . Klonsky , Agricultural Economist , has demonstrated is needed . Reliable operating parameters of acres , tree , tons per hour , or cost to harvest the same , have not been determined . Most machines evaluated thus far can operate between 0.5 and 1 mph . Our results thus far also indicate modified prune and pistachio harvesters can serve as efficient catch frames . Young tree training and orchard spacing . Harvester evaluations thus far strongly suggest that altering the tree to make fruit more accessible to the harvester would be the best method of increasing harvest efficiency . Yield records of a 9 - year - old orchard spaced at 12 x 18 feet have demonstrated trees trained to a hedgerow yield as well as conventionally trained trees thus far . The results will be conclusive when the orchard yields level off for at least three years . Mechanical pruning and hedging to shape current orchards did significantly decrease yield in the second of the first two years of this 6 - year trial . However , the yields in this trial thus far , due to poor fruit set , have been so low as to render this data unreliable . In both trials it is hoped that the decreases in harvest costs will offset the losses in yield due to pruning to generate a better net return . Abscission compounds for decreasing FRF . Logically , it seems that the primary objective of any mechanical harvesting project should be developing an effective abscission agent to accelerate the development of the fruit abscission zone and decrease the required FRF and therefore require less forceful trunk shaking or canopy contact head picking force . The hoped for result would be higher final harvest efficiencies , a higher percentage of cannable fruit with higher adjusted values per ton , and less tree damage . Ethylene releasing compounds , ( ERCs ) , primarily ethylene , have demonstrated the best potential thus far . However , decades of abscission research with ethylene , and our recent results , have demonstrated that the abscission 3 Ferguson , et al . Annual Report , California Olive Committee : Overview zone of olive leaves is more sensitive to ERCs than olive fruits . The usual result is unacceptable leaf losses ( over 25 % ) . Further , ERCs have performed erratically in both multiple trials in the literature as well as our trials . It appears that a new research approach , one more developed than screening potential abscission compounds , is needed . Finally , even if an effective abscission agent is developed it will require at least 5 years and considerable funding to generate the efficacy , residue , and environmental impact research ( EIR ) required for registration . In this time the California table olive industry could decline below critical volume . The most effective approach at this time is to pursue mechanical harvesting as if an abscission compound will not be available in the near future . And to develop a more considered research approach to olive fruit abscission . In summary , when initiated in 2006 the mechanical harvesting research program focused on simultaneously developing a specific canopy contact head harvester , and identifying an abscission agent to increase harvester efficiency and decrease harvester fruit and tree damage . However , results through 2009 strongly suggest that the final year of this project should focus on two priorities . First , research should focus on adapting trees for mechanical harvesting through pruning of existing orchards and training new hedgerow orchards . Second , all available commercial harvesters with potential for table olives should be adapted and evaluated on these reconfigured orchards . Trials thus far have demonstrated that olives harvested by both canopy contact heads and trunk - shaking harvesters have fruit quality and values that are statistically equal to those of hand harvested fruit . Furthermore , these machine - harvested olives can be successfully processed into commercially competitive fruit . Neither a sensory nor a consumer panel could distinguish canopy contact head harvested fruit from hand - harvested fruit . However , the final efficiencies of both types of harvesters remain below the needed 80 % . Finally , development of an abscission compound for decreasing FRF should not be pursued until a more effective approach can be developed . The following 2009 research report supports these conclusions . OBJECTIVES The 2009 research had four major objectives ; outlined below . Each objective will be reported in an individual section of this report as listed below . I . Sensory Characteristics and Consumer Acceptance of Mechanically - Harvested California Black Olives II . Evaluation of Mechanical Harvester ( s ) Efficiency and Effects on Fruit Quality and Value A . ENE Inc . trunk shaker B . Noli trunk shaker C . Agright canopy contact head harvester III . Evaluation of Pruning and Training Methods on Tree Yield and Fruit Quality A . Evaluation of Mechanical Topping and Hedging on Existing Orchards B . Evaluation of Developing New Olive Hedgerow Orchards IV . Screening for Potential Abscission Compounds 4 Ferguson , et al . Annual Report , California Olive Committee : Overview FUNDING The 2009 harvest research reported here was funded entirely by the California Olive Committee : $ 117 , 545.00 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We gratefully acknowledge the funding support of the California Olive Committee . We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of Musco Family Olive Company , particularly Edward Melanesio , Jesus Lopez , Dennis Burreson , Matthew Kobal and Abdul Sigal , and Bell Carter Olives , particularly Jane Yegge and Cody McCoy . These California experiments would not have been possible without the cooperation of Rocky Hill Ranch and Marc Pascoe and Jesse Luna , and Nielsen Ranch and Erick and Gavin Nielsen . We wish to thank Erick Nielsen of ENE Inc . , Phil Scott of Agright and Dave Loquaci of Madera Ag Services for their patient and flexible cooperation in the harvester evaluations . Finally , we thank volunteer John Henry Ferguson BS , MBA and visiting Scientist Maria Paz Suarez Garcia , Ph.D . of University of Sevilla , Spain for their experimental field and laboratory assistance . 5