•
BROCCOLI HARVESTER
•
THE
VEGETABLE
FARMER •
JANUARY 2017
35
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he idea is the brainchild of
Syngenta’s crop portfolio
manager for brassicas in
Northern and Central Europe,
ZenonMalek. After drawing
several sketches, he got a local
engineering company tomake
the prototype.
Finished earlier this year, and
dubbed as the Easy Broq
harvester, following an initial field
test in summer broccoli in Poland,
the Dutch event was the
machine’s second outing.
Hydraulically-powered, with
stainless steel used for much of
the construction, potential
forward speed and capacity have
yet to be determined, but what
we can confirm is that broccoli
heads are still cut from the plant
by hand. From then on everything
is donemechanically, and the
heads are transported along a
hydraulically-powered conveyor to
a pair of hydraulically-powered
cutting discs. Key to the
technique are the open-headed
varieties developed by Syngenta,
which result in individual florets
once the stalk is severed.
These travel up through the
machine and onto a picking
table, before falling into a box at
the rear of themachine. Eight
staff are needed - four to cut the
broccoli; two on the picking
table; one to replace the boxes
and one on the harvester tractor.
Mr Malek reckons 15 people
would normally be required to
achieve the same output, and it is
the difficulty in finding the
necessary staff that is behind the
development of the Easy Broq.
“Broccoli growers are finding it
increasingly difficult to find
people prepared towork in the
fields in Poland,” he says. “We
have to find newways to reduce
our dependence onmanual
labour.”
Syngenta has several new
varieties suitable for semi-
mechanical harvesting, some of
which are capable of producing
yields of up to 10t/ha. At their
Dutch Open Days, they were
highlighting two varieties for the
concept –MF049 andMonflor.
Described as similar, although
MF049 is slightly later tomature,
the key feature of both is the
more open head structure. “What
I likedwith the demonstration is
that it shows we now have
products inMonflor andMF049
that are suitable for harvesting by
themachine,” says Syngenta
technical seeds specialist Nigel
Kingston. “This ensures efficient
use of labour and improves
output while not compromising
on product quality.”
Mr Malek describes the
harvester as amulti-floret system,
which can provide product for a
number of different uses. This
includes supplying individual
florets for both fresh and frozen
markets.
A big plus in favour of the
technique for the processing
industry are the lack of any yellow
borders to traditional florets,
when heads fall apart. It may also
be possible to pack individual
heads for consumers to slice
through the stalks at home. “We
call it a one cut broccoli,” he
says, “and the stems on the two
varieties also have amuch
sweeter taste than normal.”
The prototype recently
completed a third job in Poland,
where it tackled a 4ha field. The
plan this winter is tomake a few
final tweaks ahead of a
commercial launch next year, and
it is just possible visitors may be
able to see the finished result in
action at Syngenta’s 2017 Dutch
Open Days.
Prices have yet to be
announced but are expected to
be somewhere in the region of
€
10,000-
€
12,000. When it does
go on sale the Easy Broqwill be
available with the option of a
second conveyor on the opposite
side of themachine. While
slightly more expensive, this will
double the output.
PROTOTYPE SEMI-MECHANICAL
BROCCOLI HARVESTER
The prototype of a trailed semi-mechanical broccoli
harvester could be seen in action at Syngenta’s annual
international Dutch Open Days, writes
Steven Vale
.
Visitors to Syngenta’s Dutch Open days could see the Easy Broq in action.
A key attribute of varieties suitable
for the technique is themore open
head. This allows the florets to
break into individual lengths once
the stalk is sliced.
The stem of the broccoli head is
sliced by two rotating discs, after
which the florets fall apart.
The florets travel up through the
machine and onto a picking table.
