They develop firmer blueberries to increase mechanical harvest
The cranberry season has arrived in North Carolina, a time when the market for fresh fruit grown locally grows. At North Carolina State University, Hamid Ashrafi is busy creating better blueberries for that market.
Ashrafi explains that what differentiates the blueberry procurement program of this university from the rest is the emphasis that is placed on the development of high yield varieties that can be harvested by machine. About 75 percent of the North Carolina cranberries are sold fresh and consumers do not want the fruit to be damaged during its mechanical harvest, he says.
«Right now, the 20 percent of blueberries are harvested mechanically, while the 80 percent is harvested by hand«, details. As manual harvesting is expensive, he explains: «We want to reverse it, we want the 80 percent to be mechanical and the 20 percent manual«.
At the Castle Hayne Research Station north of Wilmington, at the heart of North Carolina blueberry production, Ashrafi is conducting experiments aimed at improving the crispness and crispness of cranberries without sacrificing performance.
Source: North Carolina State University
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