New Zealand Design

Unit 5/1 Hamatana Road,  Snells Beach 0920      Ph: 09 425 6431   Fax: 09 425 6491

Media Coverage for PickaPod Olive Picker

The following article covered our trailer in our local community Newspaper Innovation is the name of the game While the economic downturn has spelt gloom and doom for some businesses, Roger Grant’s engineering business in Snells Beach has become more innovative. He has developed a simple lightweight unit, which will allow olive and nut growers to harvest their crops themselves, avoiding the pitfalls of seriously strained backs and damaged, muddy and squashed fruit endemic in more basic methods of harvesting. It all started when olive grower and member of the Matakana Olive Cooperative, Don Boshier, decided he needed a less labour intensive way of harvesting his 1200 olive trees. He visited Roger and commissioned him to produce something similar to what he’d seen in pictures – a big umbrella structure to catch the fruit as they fell and channel them into a box. Don Boshier works with the prototype Pickapod olive picker on his Laurie Road property. "It has been a great investment," Don says. "We wanted something practical which got us away from spreading nets under the trees to catch the olives, which was labour intensive. Olives ripen in April and May in Rodney and it can be very wet, muddy and unpleasant work – not romantic at all." Roger came up with a Pickapod, a free wheeled up-side-down catching 'umbrella' which can also be attached to a quad bike for transport on uneven ground. The umbrella, which wraps around the tree trunk, unfolds to a six-metre diameter. Fruit is dislodged from branches by a mechanical vibrator and falls into the umbrella, which is tilted to ensure fruit runs to an opening and into a removable collection bin underneath. The unit has a manual level tilt adjustment, to cope with undulating ground. Windy Ridge sail maker Roger Davies provided the heavy-duty UV resistant polyethylene shade material to attach to the lightweight frame. So far Roger has produced a prototype for Don and a production model for an olive grower in Foxton. "This year we harvested six tonnes of olives, producing about 800 litres of olive oil," Don says. "We have cut down on harvesting manpower. Two of us can harvest a half tonne in a day with the Pickapod, whereas before it took four or five people to do that. It's also much easier work. It has created a lot of interest amongst local olive growers." Roger says the Pickapod is not revolutionary technology, but it is light and compact when folded away and very accessible to the small grower. "This concept has been used around the world. Commercial units, which are on self-propelled tractors, sell for about $125,000 or more. Mine is a fraction of that cost." "My next step is to decide whether I market it myself or get an agent to do it," he says. Roger's innovative leanings are no surprise. He comes from a farming background and his father Laurie Grant, who farmed just north of the Dome Valley, was recognised by Government as a pioneer for mechanisation. "His passion was introducing hydraulics into farm machinery," Roger says. "My dad and I developed the Grantway forage unloading wagons. He was very innovative." Article courtesy of Mahurangi Matters July 2009