Florida shifts towards mechanized tomato harvesting
Florida shifts towards mechanized tomato harvesting
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Florida shifts towards mechanized tomato harvesting
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'Mechanization will potentially balance labor cost advantages of other countries'
University of Florida develops machine-harvestable tomatoes. Now the varieties are available, growers hope they can use mechanized harvesting
Ever since Florida farmers have been growing tomatoes, they’ve picked them by hand or hired laborers. It’s painstaking work that might be made easier soon with machine-harvestable tomatoes developed by University of Florida scientists. Now that the varieties are available, growers in Florida’s $400 million-a-year industry hope they can use mechanized harvesting, but doubts remain. Large-scale trials this spring – using the new varieties -- will tell growers and scientists a lot more. The new varieties were decades in the making, said Jessica Chitwood-Brown, the tomato breeder at the Un...