Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/643683
44 WINES&VINES March 2016 GRAPEGROWING underperforming areas by rede- signing the fertigation system and adding more amendments with our spreaders. Q Why are you looking to increase mechanization? Bokisch: Increasing mechaniza- tion is the new paradigm in Cali- fornia perennial agriculture. Our labor resources continue to shrink. Mechanization should not be inter- preted as a means of reducing the cost of tasks in the vineyard. Rather, it is a way to slow down the creeping increase in the cost of labor. Much like solar arrays, it "fixes" your cost of operation, mak- ing them more predictable. Mechanization has other ben- efits as well. Instead of having several crews of migrant workers pruning or harvesting your vine- yard, you could have a few skilled and paid operators performing the same functions. Those opera- tors would be year-round em- ployees, vested in the successful outcome of the company that employs them and the commu- nity where they live. It has an overall stabilizing effect. Due to the high cost of pur- chasing specialized vineyard tools, mechanization becomes a barrier to entry for smaller farm- ing operations. A grower who does not have enough acreage to purchase his own pre-pruner would have to hire someone else to perform the operation. How- ever, with the shrinking labor market, the same could be said of getting hand labor. Larger growers currently have easier ac- cess to farm labor contractors. Take mechanical harvesting at night on a vineyard with 6 tons per acre. In a vineyard with modi- fied vertical shoot positioning, one mechanical harvester—we use Gregoires—can pick approxi- mately 2 acres of vineyard in one hour. This includes rest breaks, lunch, etc. We typically have four people per harvest crew: the har- vester driver, two gondola drivers and the walker/quality-control person. This set-up allows me to harvest 12 tons with four indi- viduals in one hour, or three tons per individual. Our typical hand- harvest set-up consists of two eight-picker crews, two leafers, four tractor drivers and one light- generator operator. These two crews have a total of five tractors between them. Both crews can pick 24 tons in six hours—equiva- lent to 4 tons per hour and 1.14 tons per person per hour. Hand harvesting is approxi- mately one-third the speed of me- chanical harvesting, consuming far greater human and mechanical resources. Twenty-one people vs. four people, and five diesel en- gines vs. three diesel engines and all the wear and tear. Another consideration would be the in- creased opportunity for injury when coordinating so many peo- ple in a limited-light environment who are wielding harvest knives and in close proximity to tractors. If we were to account for day har- vest, the difference would be ex- acerbated due to heat. For a cost comparison, we typi- cally charge $350 to mechanically harvest 1 acre. This amounts to $58.33 per ton. We charge $200 to handpick 1 ton of fruit, or nearly four times the cost of me- chanical picking. A resident of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Laurie Daniel has been a journalist for more than 35 years. She has been writing about wine for publications for more than 21 years and has been a Wines & Vines contributor since 2006. VINEYARD MACHINERY SUPPLIERS DELEAFERS, GRAPE PACKING MACHINERY, MOWERS, PRE-PRUNERS, PRUNING MACHINERY, ROTARY TILLERS/CULTIVATORS, SPRAYERS, SPREADERS, SUCKERING MACHINERY Company Phone Website BDI Machinery Sales Inc. (800) 808-0454 bdimachinery.net Blueline Manufacturing and Equipment (509) 248-8411 bluelinemfg.com Clemens Vineyard Equipment (530) 305-1244 clemens-online.com Double A Vineyards Inc. (716) 672-8493 doubleavineyards.com Earth & Turf Products LLC (717) 355-2276 earthandturf.com Electrostatic Spraying Systems (706) 769-0025 maxcharge.com Garton Tractor Inc. (707) 425-9545 garton-tractor.com Green Hoe Co. (716) 792-9433 greenhoecompany.com Gregoire Group USA (805) 458-2863 gregoiregroup.com Infaco USA (925) 371-0796 infaco-usa.com Kimco Mfg. Inc. (559) 277-9300 kimcomfg.com Kingsburg Cultivator Inc. (559) 897-3662 kci-mfg.com Koham LLC (307) 337-2810 kohamamerica.com Lakeview Vineyard Equipment Inc. (905) 646-8085 lakeviewvineyardequipment. com New Holland Agriculture (717) 725-5209 newholland.com/na OESCO Inc. (413) 369-4335 oescoinc.com OXBO International Corp. (360) 354-1500 oxbocorp.com Pellenc America Inc. (707) 568-7286 pellenc.com S&A Manufacturing (209) 394-8048 samfg.com Swihart's LLC (800) 864-4595 swihart-sales.com For more information about the suppliers listed above, visit winesandvines.com/ buyersguide or see Wines & Vines' 2016 Buyer's Guide. HARVEST EQUIPMENT SUPPLIERS Company Phone Website American Grape Harvesters and GrapeParts4Less (559) 277-7380 aghinc.com Blueline Manufacturing and Equipment (509) 248-8411 bluelinemfg.com Central Valley (707) 963-3622 central-valley.com Euro-Machines Inc. (707) 864-5800 euromachinesusa.com Gregoire Group USA (805) 458-2863 gregoiregroup.com Lakeview Vineyard Equipment Inc. (905) 646-8085 lakeviewvineyardequipment. com New Holland Agriculture (717) 725-5209 newholland.com/na Ogletree's Inc. (707) 963-3537 ogletreecorp.com Orchard Valley Supply Inc. (888) 755-0098 orchardvalleysupply.com OXBO International Corp. (360) 354-1500 oxbocorp.com Pellenc America Inc. (707) 568-7286 pellenc.com Vineyard Industry Products Co. (707) 837-5410 vineyardindustryproducts.com Western Square Industries Inc. (800) 367-8383 westernsquare.com Wilson Orchard and Vineyard Supply (509) 453-9983 wilsonirr.com For more information about the suppliers listed above, visit winesandvines.com/ buyersguide or see Wines & Vines' 2016 Buyer's Guide. "Mechanization should not be interpreted as a means of reducing the cost of tasks in the vineyard. Rather, it is a way to slow down the creeping increase in the cost of labor." —Markus Bokisch