GRAPE GRO WING COMPANY
Pruning Machinery Suppliers PHONE
BDi Machinery Sales Inc. WEBSITE (800) 808-0454 bdimachinery.net
Blueline Manufacturing and Equipment (509) 952-9488 bluelinemfg.com Clemens Vineyard Equipment Gregoire Group
H & W Equipment Infaco USA
Lakeview Vineyard Equipment Machinery Services Ltd. Nairn Harvesters Ltd.
OXBO International Corp. Pellenc America Inc.
(530) 305-1244 clemens-online.com (805) 458-2863 gregoiregroup.com (905) 468-5016 vineyardmachines.com (209) 541-8339 infaco-usa.com
(905) 646-8085 lakeviewvineyardequipment.com 64 2728 17492 langlois.co.nz 64 6357 9323 reesegroup.co.nz (360) 354-1500 oxbocorp.com (707) 568-7286 pellencus.com
For more on pruning machinery suppliers, see Wines & Vines' 2011 Buyer's Guide in print or online at winesandvinesbuyersguide.com.
Pillitteri cites one grower who claims to save 1.75 hours per 700-foot row. The grower has 1,000 rows, so the investment of at least CAD$18,000 for one of the machines is worthwhile.
"When you multiply that by $15-$30
an hour, most people on 100 acres say it takes less than a year to pay for itself," Pillitteri says.
Ranch-WV-Nov10b.pdf Gregoire and Pellenc 11/11/10 3:47:43 PM
Lakeview also carries the Disco and Visio systems from France's Groupe Pel- lenc, but these are more sophisticated. While the Gregoire pre-pruner has to be manually adjusted when it encounters a steel post, the Pellenc offers the option of a sensor that automatically avoids obstacles for a 50% premium. When
growers factor in exchange rates, most are happy to press a button. After all, pressure to reduce input costs during the past three years has been a driving force behind the shift to mecha- nize even basic vineyard chores. "Growers have been saying, 'All my
input costs are going up, I really need to find some balance,'" Pillitteri says. "The need that's in front of you today is always more pressing than the one that didn't exist last year. Now that this technology is really taking off, they're reporting back and saying, 'I don't know what I did without one of these before'—especially if they did the pruning themselves." It's a similar story for leaf remov-
ers, which have a similar price range to pre-pruners but a slightly longer payback time—between 18 months and two years for a 50-acre vineyard. Two main systems are available: one that relies on forced air and another that draws leaves out from the canopy for cut- ting. The models from Gregoire and Pel- lenc both employ a vacuum mechanism, Other models, from Clemens Vineyard Equipment Inc. and Nairn Harvesters Ltd., use compressed air.
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