APPLE HARVESTERS

SUPER SCAMP APPLE HARVESTER SFM fruit harvesting case study – Super Scamp Hincknowle Fruit Farm, Melplash, Dorset Background Cider apples have been grown at Hincknowle since well before 1923 when the grandfather of present owner, Rupert Best, purchased the farm. From apples harvested from existing orchards or new ones he planted with apples from Long Ashton or grew himself, he made cider in a large barn, near the farmhouse, in which some of the original cider making equipment still stands and, with three other local farmers, marketed his cider, under the name ‘Linden Lea’. Cider making continued until shortly after the Second World War. The orchards were left largely uncultivated for over 20 years until Rupert’s father took on the project of reviving the family business and began a programme of planting bush orchards under contract to Taunton Cider, the first so to do, from 1971, when the recent history of this farm as a commercial business really began. In 1972, more land was purchased on which to expand the business with more orchards and, by 1984 when Rear Admiral Tom Best died, there were 21 acres of bush orchards and 10 acres of standard apple orchards producing up to 200 tonnes of apples. In 1996, Rupert took on the farm from his mother, who had continued to run the orchards in the intervening period, to begin a new phase in the development of the business which needed to expand further and improve its yields to become commercially viable for the long term. Today, the farm consists of around 60 acres of orchards, with the acreage in bush orchards having more than doubled to 45 acres since 1984. Hincknowle currently harvests around 850 tonnes of cider apples with an average yield not far short of 20 tonnes per acre. The brief Hincknowle is primarily a contract producer of cider apples with around 60% being supplied to Gaymers, the UK’s largest cider producer in the South West, now owned by C&C, the Irish owners of Magners. Much of the harvest comes from 3 of the farm’s newer bush orchards planted during the 1990s. The remaining fruit, which includes quantities of premium varieties such as Kingston Blacks, is supplied to leading independent cider makers in Somerset and Cornwall including Thatchers, Sheppy, Cornish Orchards and the Somerset Cider Brandy Company as well as small quantities to local Dorset producers. Some element of mechanical harvesting, in addition to traditional hand picking with baskets, had been in use in the early 1970s but was inefficient and unreliable and did not provide the range of capabilities needed to economically harvest the growing acreage of bush orchards being planted at this time. The solution In 1991, Somerset Fruit Machinery Company in Martock, the forerunner of today’s SFM Technology, a prototype self-propelled hand operated harvester was offered to Hincknowle to improve both the quality and quantity of its harvesting capability. This was the Super Scamp which incorporated a number of innovative features in the way it picked up the paddled rows of apples from the ground, reduced the amount of collected debris and delivered them via a hopper into a tractor drawn trailer running alongside between the rows of trees. Since then, an additional, second hand 4 geared production version of the Super Scamp has been acquired which is used as a back up harvester. In practice, this second machine is rarely used. This is seen as testament to the robust design and reliability of the original 3 geared machine which is almost 20 years old and continues to meet the entire needs of the annual harvest even though the tonnage has grown from a maximum of 350 tonnes to more than 900 tonnes in 2009. Hincknowle has invested further in SFM harvesting machinery. A tractor operated hydraulic tree shaker works alongside a blower, front paddles and two special harvesting trailers. Together, these provide the comprehensive set of harvesting equipment needed for an efficient and effective solution to the needs of the narrow row bush orchards which characterise this longstanding cider apple growing business. Quotes “To my mind, SFM came up with an excellent harvesting solution for orchards like mine which have narrow rows and limited headland space. The Super Scamp is a versatile and economical harvester which is light and well suited to working on soft soil. It is also no higher than the operator, making it suitable for harvesting between smaller trees with low hanging branches”. "We have discovered that the Super Scamp enables us generally to deliver a very clean apple to the cidermakers, partly directly due to the harvester's design and partly because the operator (or, in muddy conditions, an extra person) can check the apples in the trailer and remove clods of earth, sticks and other debris. This is becoming increasingly important, not least when the cidermaker pays a premium for clean loads and makes deductions for those below standard". “The fact that our Super Scamp has continued to provide reliable and consistent service for almost 20 years has made this a very good investment. Its simplicity provides for economical regular on-farm servicing and repair, so is a low cost machine to run and we are also well supported by the SFM engineers”. “Whilst it is clearly more labour intensive than a one-man operated tractor mounted harvester, requiring a separate drawn trailer to run alongside the harvester, the combination of flexibility of access and operation provides an overall efficiency which I don’t believe could be bettered with our legacy of bush orchards planted on sandy soil in the early days, before orchard and machinery design was developed in response to experience”. [Read more]

SOFT FRUIT HARVESTERS

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