LABOUR problems and weather conditions that plague the strawberry industry could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a breakthrough in strawberry harvesting technology.
A new robotic strawberry harvester, the brainchild of Glass House Mountains strawberry farmer Ray Daniels and agricultural engineer Rudi Bartels, would be able to harvest strawberries 24 hours a day in all weather conditions.
The harvester will be put to the test with a field trial next month.
"Horticulture is a labour-intensive industry, and while the strawberry price has remained largely stagnant over the past 15 years, labour costs have doubled," Mr Daniels said.
"Labour costs account for 56 per cent of our total production costs.
"The harvester will allow us to pick straight into punnets, which will reduce our wages bill."
The challenge for the harvester is to prove its capability in competition with human pickers.
"Our challenge is in cutting the cost down, and at the same time proving the effectiveness of the robot," Mr Bartels said.
"During the heatwave in Victoria earlier this year, pickers refused to pick - growers lost two months of produce.
"If you fall behind on picking, the fruit goes rotten.
Another significant problem facing growers is the shortage of workers, seeing them increasingly dependent on overseas workers.
"There is a big shortage of pickers and the problem with overseas workers is that once their three-month working holiday visa is up, 10 to 20 people just go," Mr Bartels said.
Sam Violi, grower and president of Strawberries Australia Victoria, said the harvester had potential.
"I have seen a few demos of the harvester and it could be a goer, but there are still a few things that need to be proven, such as that there will no damage to fruit and that it will be adaptable in Victoria," Mr Violi said.
"The problem in Victoria is rising costs, shortage of workers with the working population ageing, lack of interest in picking, weather conditions and people wanting more for less work.
"The cost of investing in one of these harvesters would be no different to investing in a very large tractor for a property."
There have been "a few" inquiries from some of Victoria's 110 strawberry growers, Mr Violi said.
