Mike

 Interesting

I studied agronomy in the late 60's at Clemson U in S.C.

At that time we were introduced to a peach harvesting prototype being developed by the ag industrial engineering dept.

It was similar in theory to the olive harvester you show here. The peach picker essentially was a split trampolin made of a network of rubber tubes which via being attached and powered by a tractor of sorts would encompass the 

peach tree trunk and shake the tree. Peach would make a gentle bounce or two and safely collect in the center.

Im sure that machine we saw was modified and refined.Never heard how successful the good ole boys were at marketing the thing.

Let me tell you though- you ain't eaten a peach until you try one of those SC freestones during June July August!!

Yessir

 John

We don't need no stinkin' humans!

Thanks to Alfonso Bedoya

thank you folks and JOHN for sharing..... 2004 driving back from Juno Beach , FL back to SE Iowa for my Father's passing (*which was a blessing*).... I drove through Augusta, Georgia in mid- April during the Masters Golf Tournament where the HIGH TEMPS were still in the low 40's ......

...... the magnolias did not come into bloom until early June ..... watched a crop duster spraying the peanuts with fungicide ; which brought back all the fond memories of being a crop-dusters spotter from the age of 8-20..... COOLEST JOB EVER...dude...JUMPING 2 ROWS x 36-INCH ROWS which Equals = ....  72 inch ( 6 foot leaps)  leaps  AND trying to  "NOT" get nailed with the Paraquat, DDT's and ...you name it; that I kind of discoverd may not be good to me .......

........there was no Georgia Peach Festival that year as it was still in low 40's for highs .....

Dude....  there is so  little  insulation in the buildings down there.... froze my nipples off, on the "brush-through-stroke" travelling back to IOWA-7924....   ... Evan

If you scroll through the entire videos and pictures, it is amazing the advances made in planting hervesting etc.

I had a mechanical cucumber harvestor back in the 1980's, but it did not look anything like todays machines 

I also worked at a co-op, during that same time period. We took in cherries using the tree shaker method.

I have seen a grape harvestor, in the same time frame but not working

Our sweet corn is harvested with a different machine than field corn or processing sweet corn

Watch a pea harvestor at work and you will be amazed. This machine was used in the 1980's

What I found interesting is the advances in design and capacity of todays harvestors for specialty crops

We even have a machine [belongs to a friend] that will plant tomato seedlings with no hand labour

Even the combine we all use to harvest is an amazing machine when you think of separating the seeds from all the other material. We take a combine for granted on todays farm but the 1st machine to go to the field must have had a lot of sceptics and a good share of interest

Today, on our farm, we have what we call prescription input maps. We prepare a map of higher and lower yield areas in the field and then input this information into the computer before starting to plant or side dress each field. Of course we have to have a code word for each field. We then vary the plant population and the amount of fertilizer acccording to past yield information. An example is along a tree line, the crops grow poorly due to tree roots so we really reduce inputs, on ground alone side trees that is primarily a weed control area. Also on those parts of the field that have a history of lower yields, the inputs vary according to yield history. We find we use about the same amount of seed and fertilizer, just spread it around differently, in the field, with some getting more and some getting less

And of course when the tractor steers itself, as long as somebody is sitting in the seat, this gives the operator a lot more time to monitor the various screens [we have 5 screens]  and each one will do many different monitoring tasks, from down pressure to amount of skips and doubles, if a row is not planting, the mount of fertilizer in the cart, number of acres planted for each cart load, or the entire amount used. So much I don't have room to post everything.. I have no idea the entire number of monitors we use, when planting or any other task except it takes 5 screens to accommodate all machine operation. We don't have markers on our planters any more as we don't need to follow a mark, like we did in yrs past. We are not the only people using this technology as some have even more computers at work while going into a field to start some kind of operation.

Of course all this stuff has a cost and everybody will be different as ROI is usually the limiting factor.

For instance we have a solenoid control valve that makes a pulsing action at each sprayer tip. This allows us to spray in higher wind conditions while controlling the drift of the spray material. This option costs approx. 20,000.00 for the entire boom length, but allows us to spray when older models are shut down, due to windy conditions.. When you can spray or not spray 600 acres or more in a day, each day is precious, especially in a yr like this with rain and very few days that have soil conditions to support the machine with out rutting the field. If weeds get out of control or rob yield then you are very happy to be on top of your work load, in a proper and timely application window

It is truly amazing what todays machines can do and not just in agriculture. If the satellite signal ever fails we would all be in serious trouble. At home, work or just driving down the road, a computer is most likely doing something.

Harvesting olives by machine sure beats the old method of going to the olive grove with a stick in hand , during harvest, to beat on the tree limbs and then gather the olives off a sheet spread on the ground.

And get a look at that rasp berry machine, if you have ever picked rasp berries, you will know. or the cucumber machine and many more machines