A G R I T E C H
APPLE OF THE ORCHARD’S EYE
In what the company is
describing as a world-first,
T&G Global is using a robotic
harvester for a commercial apple
harvest, reflecting the company’s
commitment to innovation-led
growth. It is the culmination of four
years of working with US-based
technology partner Abundant
Robotics, which T&G’s parent
company BayWa AG invested
in two years ago as part of its
strategy to expand digitisation
across its agribusiness.
T&G Global chief operating
officer Peter Landon-Lane says
the company is delighted to
have reached this significant
milestone in the evolution of the
global apple industry and for
T&G’s home operations in New
Kiwi ingenuity
leads to world’s
first commercial
robotic apple
harvest at
T&G’s Hawkes
Bay orchards
with Abundant
Robotics
expansion initiatives since 2017.
Abundant Robotics ceo Dan
Steere says the company
evolved from its research-based
origins after delivering a proof of
concept prototype in 2015 and
approached the commercialisation
of the technology as a global
opportunity from the start.
“With T&G Global we are able to
run a year-round development
programme leveraging work with
US apple growers and New Zealand
orchards during the complementary
northern and southern hemisphere
harvesting seasons.
“Developing an automated
apple harvester requires solving
a number of complex technical
problems in parallel, from visually
identifying harvestable fruit and
physically manipulating it to
pick without bruising, to safely
navigating the orchard itself.
“Our relationship with growers and
access to real-world conditions
on partner orchards through
the development and testing
process has been key to getting
the technology to the point
where it is now commercially
viable,” says Mr Steere.
The Abundant Robotics technology
is being used to pick a range of
apple varieties including T&G’s
proprietary Jazz and Envy, which are
destined for supermarket shelves
in New Zealand and overseas.
Mr Landon-Lane says it will be some
years before all T&G orchards are
harvested in this way, but this first
harvest with Abundant Robotics
is an exciting step forward.
“Apple-picking is tough physical
work and it’s seasonal. Robotic
technology complements the work
our people do with its ability to
pick a large proportion of the fruit,
much of it at the upper levels of
the trees, reducing the physical
demands of the work for our people
as well as boosting productivity.
“This will enable us to continue
the exciting growth that is being
achieved in the apple industry,
without being constrained by
the current shortages of labour,”
says Mr Landon-Lane.
Zealand to be at the forefront.
“Automation enables us to continue
to scale to meet increasing global
demand for food, in the face of
current and future labour market
challenges. We’ve been actively
driving towards this for the past
few years, including preparing
our orchards to be robot-ready.
“This is in addition to the
investment our parent company
BayWa AG has made in Abundant
Robotics, reflecting confidence
in the technology, which has
been developed with the apple
industry from the outset,”
says Mr Landon-Lane.
High density planting and specific
pruning methods have been
implemented at T&G’s Hawkes
Bay orchards to make them
suitable for Abundant Robotics’
technology. Canopy innovation
and trialling of different ways of
achieving automation compatibility
has been a feature of orchard
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