Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/418083
56 DECEMBER 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com I t wasn't a John Henry-like contest, pitting man against machine. Rather, it was two machines competing for the affections of men and women who will have better, more effi cient working conditions picking apples using either of them. They weren't in the same orchard and were working a day apart, but conditions were otherwise about the same. It was mildly cold and raining. The two Michigan orchards, a hundred miles apart, were laden with large Jonagold apples growing in high-density, tall spindle trellis systems. The two machines working to impress a small cohort of Michigan apple growers who turned out in the mid-October rain were the Huron Fruit Systems harvest platform and the DBR Conveyor Concepts vacuum harvester. The Huron Fruit Systems platform was designed and built by Paul Wafl er, of Pittsford, New York. This machine is proudly owned by Dave Rennhack, who said he paid $65,000 for it and another $12,500 for the fi ve-bin hauler that supplies empty bins to the harvest platform and hauls away fi lled bins, fi ve at a time. Rennhack grows fruit at Hart, Michigan, and sells much of it through his farm market. To his knowledge, he bought the fi rst of these machines sold outside the Wafl er family. "Somebody had to be the guinea pig," Rennhack said. The DBR machine has worked at several Michigan orchards, but the day after the Rennhack demonstration, it was at Cherry Bay Orchards near Suttons Bay, north of Traverse City. There, Mark Miezio, a member of the Gregory family that owns Cherry Bay, seemed pleased enough. The company that will build them, Phil Brown Welding, has decided on a price and now will sell them after fi ve years of working on prototypes. The price: $79,000 for the picking unit, complete with roofs and night lights and the bin hauler and changer, plus $45,000 for the Brownie Quad, the versatile platform with the 44 horsepower diesel engine that carries the harvesting unit. It also powers hydraulic or air loppers, chain saws, and other tools in other seasons. It's amazing, really, that after hundreds of years of workers scrambling up and down, moving and positioning ladders, two ladderless alternatives appear at the same time. Each claims to make workers 15 to 30 percent more productive. Crews of fi ve on the Two ladderless apple harvest machines vie for grower approval. They are now for sale. by Richard Lehnert A tale Two ladderless apple harvest machines vie for grower approval. They are now for sale. by Richard Lehnert David Rennhack (right) bought the Huron machine. On the day of the demo, he rode the platform and talked about it to growers like Bruce Rasch. The trailer holds empty bins for change-out. It takes about a minute to switch bins. PHOTOS BY RICHARD LEHNERT