Orange grove factors affect manual harvesting rates

Fruit harvesting rates were measured for four pairs of pickers in orange trees with fruit yields from 30 to 76 t/ha, fruit weight from 160 to 235 g, and tree heights from 3.7 to 5.5 m. Each picker used a conventional ladder and bag emptied the harvested fruit into 408-kg field containers. Average harvesting rates per picker ranged from 241 to 376 kg/h. A regression analysis of the data showed the harvesting rate per picker increased 40.8 kg/h (equivalent to one field box of Florida oranges per hour) for an approximate increase of either 20 t/ha in yield or 50 g in fruit weight, or a 2 m decrease in tree height.