A simple, coloured, silicone wrist band has been developed by Summerfruit New Zealand to help fruit pickers during the upcoming 2016-17 season. NZ market coordinator Trisha Aitken said the wrist bands will help pickers decide which fruit to pick and which fruit to leave on the tree to grow and ripen further.
‘The bands are great for new or inexperienced pickers as they are a constant reminder of the colour fruit they should be looking to pick,’ Ms Aitken said. ‘Growers also found they are really helpful for first or second picks, when there is still a lot of immature fruit on the trees.’
The wrist bands are the result of a three-year AGMARDT/Summerfruit NZ-funded project ‘Harvest Assurance Tools’ and follow trialling the bands with apricot, nectarine and peach growers in Hawkes Bay and Central Otago.
Apricots and wrist bands in a fruit bin, photo by Trisha Aitken.
‘Fruit colour is a major trigger for deciding fruit maturity and therefore deciding when and what to pick. The colours for the wrist bands were chosen following trials which closely matched certain colours with certain varieties. However that doesn’t mean they can’t be used for other varieties too,’ said Ms Aitken.
The trials found that the wrist bands helped with training new staff and also reduced the amount of time required to supervise pickers.
Ms Aitken said the hard wearing bands are used by advertisers, charities and event organisers as they are comfortable to wear and won’t split, tear or fade. Available in packs of ten, order forms are being sent to growers and can be downloaded from the Summerfruit NZ website www.summerfruitnz.co.nz
‘The colours available focus on apricot, nectarine and peach varieties, but cherry and plum colour wrist bands are being trialled for release this time next year,’ according to Ms Aitken.
For more information:
Trisha Aitken
NZ market coordinator
Summerfruit NZ
Tel: 027 557 1477 / 04 470 5860