Cherry sorting and packing technology continues to improve.
The combination of digital cameras and high speed processing, along with compressed air removal of cherries from the sorting lines, and automated box fillers, all adds up to diminishing labour costs from the packing operation. This leading edge packing revolution is taking place in the USA, Europe and here.
These developments have been driven by the rising costs of labour, the struggle to find adequate labour willing to do the short term manual work, and the push from supermarket chains to have even, consistent product lines.
The labour cost-savings are attractive to bigger grower/packers, but the cost may stifle demand at the start. The ability to have small modules—suited to small packing operations—will induce some to make the change if it’s cost effective.
This being the case, there is a strong argument for growing and producing cherry varieties that can supply supermarket giants with long lines of consistent product. This can be done by growing varieties that produce fruit with similar characteristics such as an evenness of size and firmness, and good stem condition. This would result in an even supply of fruit to the chains, would support promotions and improve sales.
This may mean that varieties with small numbers of trees in a block—e.g. pollinisers, trials, or those that should have been removed last year— might be destined for shed sales only.
Shed sales can maximize returns for those varieties because you won’t receive a bill instead of a cheque from the marketer, if that product was not wanted or good enough.
Or not At the other end of the scale there are operators who focus on packing and sorting in the field, with cooling facilities and prompt time from harvest to the market. Older growers will say, “that’s what we did 50 years ago!”
Decide where you want to be in the future, then focus on that to create a business that has a future.
