THE FUTURE: MECHANICAL HARVESTING Chapter 25: A shrinking role
for hands Published: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 at 11:33 a.m. At top
speed -- 1 or 2 mph -- engines whine and brushes rattle to the
beat of oranges thumping into plastic containers. "When you see
'em going down the row, filling those bins, it's impressive,"
says Will Elliot, general manager of Coe-Collier Citrus
Harvesting. "They move some fruit." For hundreds of years,
citrus has been harvested by hand. Field laborers climbed
ladders, filled sacks and emptied fruit into bins, which were
emptied into larger containers and then wagons or trucks. Now
that is changing. In 2000, according to the Florida Department
of Citrus, fewer than 10,000 acres of fruit were harvested
mechanically. For 2005, it was 25,000 acres. By 2010, mechanical
harvesting is expected to reach 50,000 acres. Even 50,000 acres
is less than 10 percent of the total crop, but the move toward
mechanical harvesting is gaining