23
F
f
rui t Tree
h
arvest ing
F
L
ocated at Baarlo, in theDutch province of Limburg,
the land surrounding the company
h
Q is ideal for
raising fruit trees, and the
f
leuren family’s 110ha tree
nursery is roughly dividedbetween 50% apples, 30%
cherries, 15%pears and 5%plums.
Young trees spend two years in the ground, and each
season 55ha of newmaterial is planted and 55ha are
harvested. The company cannot return to the same land for
100 years, which is forcing it tomove further away from the
farm.
w
hen the family first began raising fruit trees, most of
the landwaswithin a 7km radius; today this distance has
risen to40km, and could increase further in future.
The difficulty of finding suitable land in theNetherlands
has forced them to travel across the border intoGermany
where they have rented 30ha. This iswhere the largest
11.5ha field is located, and it was here that we caught up
with the tree harvesting team liftingGala and
w
ellant apple
trees.
Three specially-made trailed harvesters are required to lift
the 55ha of young trees each season. Plus, they have a
fourthmachine for tackling rootstocks. The two harvesters
operating at the start of the seasonwere pulledbehind the
business’ twomost powerful Steyr CVT tractors – a 6150
(150/175hp) and185hp 6185.
Made byDutch engineering firmCoenders, the first
harvester arrived in 2007. Thismachine enables the
grading of material in the field, and twomore have been
added, the last of which came in 2015.
i
n operation, a
digger share prizes each tree out of the ground, which is
then clampedbetween a pair of rubber belts and conveyed
to the sorting table. Normally, there is a tractor driver plus
T
he
frui
TG
rower
•
JAN
u
A
r
Y 2017
f
leuren tree nursery completes its 2016 harvesting season
TheFleuren treenursery isoneof the largest producersof fruit trees in theNetherlands. As
StevenValediscovers, specialmachines are required toharvest 1.2million trees each year.
