The Horticultural Development Company has collaborated with the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers to fund Chris Rose Associates to produce a review of mechanisation in the fruit industry. The result is a fascinating study of some of the new options coming onto the market that are likely to inject cost savings into the industry in the future.

Among highlights in the 30-page report which details more than new and recent developments, are a mechanical thinner for tree fruit. The HDC’s communications manager Scott Raffle said: “With the likelihood of fewer chemical applications available to perform thinning tasks in the future, this sort of machinery could become more attractive to growers.”

Other machinery in the report, although requiring a large initial outlay and investment, represent labour-saving to producers. For example an inflatable conveyor belt for soft fruit plants to be carried out for planting rather than having people employed to carry trays of plants to transplant.

Raffle said: “A lot of the machinery is in its infancy but will assume greater importance as the cost of labour increases and its availability decreases in the future.”