Romaine hearts inserted into the familiar three-pack bag.
alignment, and our system started to unzip this field of romaine hearts very efficiently.” John D’Arrigo revealed that this machine is in competition with another romaine harvester D’Arrigo has developed that uses different technology to accomplish the same task. Whichever one proves to be the most efficient and cost effective will get the nod, and D’Arrigo will build what they need to accomplish the task of harvesting their romaine fields with less labor. Holtz pointed to another harvester across the field that is the traditional winged unit used throughout the lettuce fields of California and Arizona. That harvester has some packers riding on the equipment while pickers are walking through the field cutting the romaine heads by hand and placing them on conveyor belts to deliver them to the packers. Over the years, those harvesters have been updated and configured with some labor-saving devices, but they still represent a labor-intensive operation. Holtz said that traditional harvester has a crew that is supposed to top 30 members but often it falls short and operates with fewer farmworkers because of lack of available labor. The robotic harvester
and the companion bagging truck are utilizing about a dozen workers to pick, pack, palletize and transfer the pallets to another truck that butts up next to it to take the pallets to the cooler as they are filled. D’Arrigo has no doubt that an automated harvester, as well as other mechanical harvesters being developed for other crops the company grows and markets, will be used extensively someday, sooner than later. He said the industry has no choice. “Six or seven years ago, I saw the handwriting on the wall,” he said. “Lack of labor was going to be the dominant issue.” Even before the coronavirus experiences of the past two years that led to much disruption on the labor front, agriculture was facing chronic labor shortages. Passing immigration reform has been a stalled endeavor for 30 years and there is no doubt that fewer workers are available for farm work. D’Arrigo established a mechanical engineering department on his ranch and he staffed it with people who could envision and build labor-saving devices. D’Arrigo California has mechanized many different operations. It has equipment that can automatically plant seeds, weed
and thin. It has automated much of its irrigation work including laying and removing drip tape, employing mulch film and moving irrigation pipe around a field. It is working on the romaine harvester as well as one to aid in the harvesting of broccoli. Holtz said its broccoli rabe harvester is no longer in the experimental phase as it has several machines in use or on order. Much of the company’s rapini [rabe] is already being mechanically harvested and packed. D’Arrigo noted that there are 450 rapine stems in one carton…that’s a lot of hand labor that has been replaced. He believes that it is imperative that agriculture continue on a fast track to automation. Not only does it reduce the need for labor, but the industry will have a better chance of attracting more skilled workers to the jobs created by the adoption of high-tech machines. D’Arrigo has been on a mission to convince educators at the university level that they should be training the ag workers of the future who will need to be tech-savvy to operate and fix this advanced equipment.
JULY | AUGUST 2022
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Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com
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