The almond harvest is easy to spot in many Valley communities.
Machines shake up dust when picking up nuts off the orchard floor.
“The big push in the industry in the past few years has been to get away from the dust,” says Craig Arnold of Arnold Farms in Atwater.
Engineering students at UC Merced have been working on projects to improve efficiency.
Harvester modifications immediately move the almonds into a cart so they can be transported.
“The whole process from complete off-ground harvesting with the real off-ground machines, are moving the almonds,” says Stefano Foresti. “Not even letting them touch the ground.”
“One of our biggest goals is to make this sustainable and efficient because when the almonds are harvested, like they are right now, they create a lot of debris,” says Hassan Imran.
Moist almond hulls can make them stick to the sides and bottom of trailers, so workers must use poles to free the clumps of almonds.
Students came up with a stockpile aeration solution.