09/29/05 Senior, Junior, and Pete

If there has been one area the tree fruit industry has been seeking in the realm of improved technologies for greater work and cost efficiencies, and employee safety, it has been in mechanical harvesters and work platforms. On the work platform end, a group of researchers representing various institutions have been combining their talents to develop the definite platform. Among those working on the project is Tom Auvil of the Washington State Tree Fruit Research Commission. AUVIL: We noticed a number of other growers utilizing various homemade platforms and they are manufacturing them on their own farms, and utilizing components from their bone yards or junk yards and stuff and making real practical applications, so we were looking to upgrade those into a more industrial year round kind of unit. What has resulted is the creation of prototypes in testing applications for mechanical work platforms. Auvil says the first unit was called the Pete. The small model is aptly named Junior, while the larger version is dubbed Senior. AUVIL: They're evolutionary steps of developing a means of accessing the top of the tree for pruning, thinning, other cultural practices, including harvest. We started looking at mechanical aids to elevate workers off the orchard floor three years ago in the harvest arena. How that problem is being solved, and the reaction of those people who would benefit most from mechanical work platforms is shared in our next program.