Economic evaluation of apple harvest and in-field sorting technology

Authors: ZHANG, ZHAO - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA); POTHULA, ANAND - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA); Lu, Renfu

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASABE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/31/2017
Publication Date: 10/31/2017
Citation: Zhang, Z., Pothula, A.K., Lu, R. 2017. Economic evaluation of apple harvest and in-field sorting technology. Transactions of the ASABE. 60(5):1537-1550.

Interpretive Summary: The U.S. apple industry is facing critical challenges in decreased availability of labor and increased labor and production cost. To address these challenges, ARS researchers at East Lansing, Michigan recently developed a new self-propelled apple harvest and in-field sorting prototype machine with several innovative harvest efficiency-enhancing and automatic in-field sorting designs. Economic analysis was conducted to evaluate the benefits of adopting this harvest and in-field sorting machine by considering the machine cost, harvest efficiency improvement, and postharvest storage/packing savings or extra benefits accrued from in-field sorting of processing apples from fresh market apples. Based on the conservative estimations, the machine can improve harvest efficiencies by 43%-63%, compared to manual harvest. Both fresh apple growers, who grow apples primarily for the fresh market, and processing apple growers can gain significant benefits by adopting the technology. Depending on the machine price, harvest efficiency increase, and the ratio of fresh market apples to processing apples, the actual net annual benefits for the fresh apple grower would range between $13,500 and $78,400 and for the processing apple grower between $23,900 and $81,700. The technology will also help improve the working conditions for harvesting workers and alleviate the labor shortage problem for the apple industry.

Technical Abstract: The U.S. apple industry, which generated more than $2.7 billion revenue at the farm gate in 2013, is facing critical challenges in decreased availability of labor and increased labor and production cost. To address these challenges, a self-propelled apple harvest and in-field sorting machine is being developed in our laboratory. This paper reports on the economic analysis of this prototype machine, by considering the machine cost (annual ownership and operating costs), harvest efficiency increase, including that due to decreased occupational injuries, and cost savings in postharvest storage and packing for fresh apple growers and benefits gained for processing apple growers, by in-field sorting of fresh market quality apples from processing apples. The economic analysis was conducted by assuming that the machine operates for 360 hours in a harvest season. Based on the conservative estimations, the technology can result in harvest efficiency increases by 43% to 63%. For fresh apple orchards with processing apple incidence of 5%-15%, the net annual benefits that would accrue from owning one machine range from $13,500 to $78,400, when the machine price is between $100,000 and $160,000. For processing apple orchards with the processing apple incidence of 80%-90% and the same machine price range, the net annual benefits that would accrue from owning one machine are between $23,900 and $81,700. Overall, benefits gained from in-field sorting outweigh that from the harvest efficiency increase, and integration of the harvest-assistant and in-field sorting functions is more beneficial to apple growers. The technology will help the U.S. apple industry improve labor productivity and reduce production cost, and it, thus, looks promising for commercialization.