Polish-Built Berry “Combine” Speeds Up Harvest

Polish-Built Berry “Combine” Speeds Up Harvest COMBINES Miscellaneous When our friend Sidney Stubbs from Canada passed along some pictures of a Polish combine harvesting haskap berries on the Alberta prairies we decided to check it out With 19 000 haskap bushes in their Broken Tine Orchard Kreg and Lee-Anne Alde needed a mechanical harvester “We saw one working at the University of Saskatchewan where our haskaps were originally developed ” says Kreg The harvesters are manufactured in Poland by Weremczuk Agromachines They were developed for all types of soft berries from currants to aronia berries haskaps and even rose hips Models range from half-row pull-behind units to full-row and self-propelled units The Aldes chose a pull-behind unit designed to harvest both low and high bushes Tines shake the berries loose from the bushes to drop onto a conveyor that carries them to boxes on a rear platform Along the way leaves are blown off and the berries are sorted The harvester has a hydraulic hitch side platform for tote storage and a small bush attachment for young plants A transport hitch allows the machine to be towed at road speeds Will Stafford Forest Fringe Orchards is an authorized dealer for the Polish-built harvesters He also uses them on his 60+ acres of fruit bushes He says the machines are built to order “The buyer chooses the components and makes a 25 percent deposit in U S dollars ” says Stafford “The company then starts construction and final payment is made prior to shipment ” Stafford suggests buyers order in groups of 2 to lower shipping costs as 2 machines fit a container A Joanna Premium harvester as they’re called has a base price of $34 250 Attachments for use specifically with haskaps start at $953 A wide variety of other options are available “We always have some losses ” says Alde “It would be under 10 percent with perfect plants that are 6 ft tall and 4 to 5 ft wide Low branches are always a problem ” The Aldes first used their harvester when their bushes were about 4 years old Alde admits that haskaps are a long-term investment Once planted it is 5 years before they provide a return and 10 years before you have your capital back However with pruning haskap bushes should produce for 70 years Joanna Premium harvesters are sold in Canada by: Forest Fringe Orchards P O Box 472 Prince Albert Sask Canada S6V 5R8 ph 306 929-2091; www forestfringeorchards ca ; and in the U S by: Aronia Berry Services of NE Iowa P O Box 101 Fairbank Iowa 50629 ph 319 240-4104; Dean@absnei com; www aroniaberryservicesofneiowa com

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