fruit picking#automation
{{Short description|Manual harvesting of fruit}}
{{Globalize|date=December 2014}}
[[Image:orchard.ladders.jpg|thumb|right|Orchard ladders in old farmstead apple orchard
British Columbia, Canada, 2005]]
Fruit picking or fruit harvesting is a seasonal activity (paid or recreational) that occurs during harvest time in areas with fruit growing wild or being farmed in orchards. Some farms market "You-Pick" for orchards, such as the tradition of Apple and Orange picking in North America, as a form of value-add agritourism.
Types of fruit
=Apple picking=
File:Relander and apples.jpg, the former President of Finland, with his family picking apples in the 1930s.]]
File:Apfelernte Steiermark 01.jpg]]
Apple picking is an activity found at apple farms. Apple orchards may be opened to the public, allowing consumers to pick their own apples or purchase pre-picked apples.{{cite web|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20010928/ai_n13923430|title=FindArticles.com - CBSi|website=www.findarticles.com|access-date=14 April 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2151215/|title=What pick-your-own-apple orchards teach about the American economy.|work=Slate Magazine|date=9 October 2006 }}
Although this is ultimately a method of purchasing apples, it is often a social activity as well. Apple picking is often a very popular dating ritual in the American Midwest.{{According to whom|date=October 2021}} Apple orchards catering to a family outing will provide additional activities beyond the picking of apples. Many have petting zoos, restaurants and country shops that sell related products such as home-made jams and jellies.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} This aspect of the activity is especially popular in the Northeastern United States & Southern Ontario and Southern Québec in Canada.
The apples that fall off the trees are often used to make apple cider. Apple cider is a juice made grinding the apples, then pressing out the juice.
There are several tests that are used to determine apple fruit maturity, and these will be described throughout this article. But before performing any measurement, the first step is to know how to collect a representative fruit sample from the orchard block.{{Cite web |title=Fruit Harvest - Determining Apple Fruit Maturity and Optimal Harvest Date |url=https://extension.psu.edu/fruit-harvest-determining-apple-fruit-maturity-and-optimal-harvest-date |access-date=2023-10-23 |website=extension.psu.edu |language=en}}
Workers
File:Polytunnels and caravans - geograph.org.uk - 1198694.jpg, Scotland, March 2009]]
Most fruit picking is done by migrant workers, who can be paid relatively low wages. In California, Mexican migrants most frequently do the work.{{cite web |url= http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/mice/migartcl.html |title= SCORE: Steinbeck--Migrant article |access-date= 2009-05-01 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060427152404/http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/mice/migartcl.html |archive-date= 2006-04-27 }} There has been much controversy about replacing workers with automation.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} It puts many out of work.
In Australia and New Zealand, people engaging in backpacker tourism do a lot of the fruit-picking work while on a working holiday visa. The Australian government encourages people on this visa to do this sort of work for a minimum of three months so they can add another year to their visa. This benefit does not apply to all parts of Australia - one must undertake work in selected post-code areas to become eligible for the extra year.{{cite web| url=https://www.fruitpicking-australia.com.au/ |title= Fruit Picking in Australia for Backpackers | work= Fruit Picking Australia}}
Monoculture orchards can face particular labor-timetable issues.
{{cite book| last1=Kohen| first1=Reʼuven| title= he Kibbutz Settlement: Principles and Processes| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=daraAAAAMAAJ| publisher=Hakibbutz Hameuchad | date=1972| page = 144
| quote = [...] private citrus-growers [...] being monocultural, are subject to constant disturbances in their yearly labour timetable. In the winter they need thousands of hired labourers for the picking season }}
Automation
As labor costs are still quite expensive in fruit picking, robots are being designed that can replace humans for this kind of works.{{cite web | url=http://treefruit.wsu.edu/web-article/automation/ | title=Automation - WSU Tree Fruit - Washington State University|website=treefruit.wsu.edu|access-date=14 April 2018}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/06/robo_picker|title=Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers |magazine=WIRED}} The research is still in full progress, especially as the robots need to be carefully designed so that they do not bruise the fruit while picking.[http://kernow.curtin.edu.au/www/Agrirobot1/frutrob.htm Problems with robotic fruit pickers] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719125046/http://kernow.curtin.edu.au/www/Agrirobot1/frutrob.htm |date=2008-07-19 }} One solution is the use of suction grippers.{{cite web|url=http://www.vision-systems.com/display_article/303062/19/none/none/Feat/Vision-system-simplifies-robotic-fruit-picking|title=Vision system simplifies robotic fruit picking|work=vision-systems.com|access-date=2009-05-01|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130205210107/http://www.vision-systems.com/display_article/303062/19/none/none/Feat/Vision-system-simplifies-robotic-fruit-picking|archive-date=2013-02-05|url-status=dead}} Citrus fruit robot pickers have thus far been the focus of research and development, but cherry pickers are also being researched.{{cite web|url=http://www.lovingthemachine.com/2008/04/farmer-hails-strawberry-picking-robot.html| title=lovingthemachine.com|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226203047/http://www.lovingthemachine.com/2008/04/farmer-hails-strawberry-picking-robot.html| archive-date=2008-12-26}}
Fruit picking in art
File:The Fall of Man by Lukas Cranach.jpg|Lucas Cranach the Elder, Paradise (detail), 1530
File:Christian Berentz - Flowers, Fruit with a Woman Picking Grapes - WGA1936.jpg|Christian Berentz, Flowers, Fruit with a Woman Picking Grapes, 1696
File:William-adolphe bouguereau the grape picker.jpg|William-Adolphe Bouguereau, The grape picker, 1875
File:Gauguin La récolte.jpg|Paul Gauguin, La récolte or Homme cueillant des fruits, 1897
File:Rippl Fruit-picking Women.jpg|József Rippl-Rónai, Fruit-picking Women ('Gyümölcsszedő hölgyek)
File:August Macke Obsternte 1913.jpg|August Macke, Obsternte, 1913
File:Frantisek Jakub Obsternte.jpg|František Jakub (Czech, 1875 - 1940), Obsternte, by 1950
See also
References
{{Commons category|Plucking fruit}}
{{Reflist}}12. "Fruit Harvest - Determining Apple Fruit Maturity and Optimal Harvest Date". extension.psu.edu. Retrieved 2023-10-23.{{Authority control}}
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