This summer marks 2 years since a massive new worker rumbled onto the field to harvest celery for Taylor Farms – a marvel of mechanical technology called the Automated Celery Harvester.
After a few modifications since 2014, the harvester now cuts 13,000 pounds of celery per hour and drops the product into trailers for transport to processing at its very freshest. By comparison, it used to take 20 workers an hour to harvest that many pounds by hand.
“Two of the primary reasons we developed the machine is that hand-harvesting celery is very difficult and hand crews also lay the product on the ground after its been cut, which is a food safety problem,” said Dave Offerdahl, Taylor Farms’ Director of Ag Engineering, Harvest Automation.
As the harvester moves through the celery field, the stalks are cut by hardened stainless steel blades that are adjusted automatically by a sensor that follows the contour of the ground. An operator in the enclosed cab does the fine tuning, Offerdahl said. A single machine handles all the company’s present celery harvesting needs.
Offerdahl said it took about a year to develop the harvester and since launch, modifications have been made to the blades, the ground sensor wheel, and how the crew handles the product on the trailer after harvest .
“Our investment in automated harvesting not only decreases our harvest costs, but also lays the foundation of the future for the industry,” said Offerdahl.
See Taylor Farms’ Automated Celery Harvester in action:
A festive picnic in a beautiful outdoor setting with family, friends and good food is a great American tradition. Whether it be during National Picnic Month or any other time of year, we can’t think of a better way to celebrate than with a delicious spread featuring the fastest-selling chopped salad kits on the market from Taylor Farms.
Our prepackaged chopped salad kits provide the perfect ingredients for tasty, nutritious salads that can be kept fresh in your picnic cooler for preparation in minutes when you reach your favorite spot. With ten chopped salads varieties, from Asian, Southwestern and BBQ Ranch to Greek, Italian and Farmhouse bacon, you’ll find it the perfect accompaniment to your picnic meal. The best part about that these premium Taylor Farms salad kits is that they include not only the freshest produce and vegetables, washed and ready to eat, but also the custom-made dressings and toppings to go with them.
Our chopped salads can also become part of your own recipes to bring a personal touch to your event. Try our latest Sweet Kale Chopped Salad Kit recipe::
This week, Salinas was host to nearly 600 of the smartest and most entrepreneurial minds in Silicon Valley and global agriculture for the second annual Forbes Media AgTech Summit. Many industry leaders, including Taylor Farms Chairman and CEO Bruce Taylor, were part of the event, which also featured a speech by California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Under a huge white tent along Main Street Salinas, the invitation-only event fostered lively debate and generated rich networking opportunities while showcasing the latest innovation for farmers, investors and stakeholders of the global agricultural ecosystem.
“This summit is a fantastic opportunity for the AgTech community to discuss real solutions in accelerating new technologies and capabilities in farming,” said Taylor. “We are currently in trials with eight of the participating companies we met during last year’s Forbes AgTech Summit.” He also noted the spike in attendees this year — up from 400 — and observed that there are more growers open to “changes and innovation.”
Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter told The Californian, “It’s grown, it’s bigger and it’s exciting.” He said the event also brought in more customers to local downtown businesses and is part of the city’s goal to develop the agtech industry as part of a larger picture involving economic development and creating knowledge-based jobs.
In a media interview, Newsom said agriculture is already a $9 billion economic engine in Salinas Valley. He said leadership is critical to Salinas Valley’s goal of successfully merging ag and tech.
“It’s whatever you decide because all of the tools are here, everything is here,” Newsom said, adding that Salinas’ competitive edge includes the geography and being near the coast, and “proximity to the valley and the human capital. The opportunity is endless.”
The Innovation Showcase at the summit expanded this year, featuring more than 35 innovative AgTech startups focused on a wide variety of solutions that will result in higher crop yields and less food waste — from precision agriculture and robotics to traceability software, genomics and machine learning.
Forbes’ Paul Noglows, executive producer of the event, said part of the goal with this year’s show was to build the Innovation Showcase. “I’m really excited about how this program came together,” he added.
July 13th included a tour of the Taylor Farms processing plant.The next day’s plenary sessions fostered foster dynamic discussions around a range of topics including: food security, the microbe revolution, labor’s next frontier, and life after water.
One of the “Innovation Spotlights” involved a candid conversation between Dan Harburg of start-up Soft Robotics and Taylor, one of his beta customers. Harburg said that if there is a need for a robot with good dexterity and visual capability, “we might just have it.”
Soft Robotics is working with Taylor Farms by providing automated gripping technology to help with the sorting and packing of delicate fruits and vegetables. They told a media reporter that they have developed “a fundamentally new class of robotic grippers that are adaptive, inexpensive and simple to use.”
In an interview with Forbes, Harburg said the two companies will be rolling out several applications for the robotic arms at Taylor Farms’ plant in Salinas, CA, with full production about four to five years away. When that happens, Taylor noted, jobs in the industry can change from low-wage, low-skill work to more highly-skilled, better paying jobs.
When Taylor Farms pledged $2 million nearly a decade ago to help launch the Center for Produce Safety (CPS) at UC Davis, the goal was to advance an aggressive research agenda that provided produce companies with the guidance needed to advance their food safety efforts. Today, we are proud that our commitment to this important work is making a real difference.
Since its inception as part of the university’s Western Institute for Food Safety and Security, CPS has compiled an impressive body of work, awarding $16.4 million and funding 100 research projects at 30 universities and organizations involving some of the world’s leading produce safety scientists. CPS also has garnered a global reputation. An example is the major CPS research symposium which took place in Seattle, WA June 28-29, drawing food safety scientists from around the world.
To date, Taylor Farms has contributed $2.25 million to CPS. The first major multi-year project funded by the center was the USDA validation of the SmartWash produce wash system that is the centerpiece of the Taylor Farms’ industry-leading production process, according to Jim Brennan of SmartWash Solutions, a member of the CPS Technical Committee.
In addition to Brennan, another Taylor Farms team member, Alec Leach, Taylor Farms Foodservice President, served until earlier this year on the CPS Board of Directors and Executive Committee.
“The enhancement of food safety in our industry is ongoing,“ said Leach “We are constantly learning more about sources and vectors for potential contamination and addressing risks to our industry’s customers.”
The CPS mission to “provide and share ready-to-use, science-based solutions to prevent or minimize produce safety vulnerabilities” dovetails with Taylor Farms commitment to providing consumers with the freshest, healthiest and safest produce available.
In its research on food safety and security, UC Davis engages its School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the School of Medicine. They work in partnership with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and Department of Health Services.
Taylor Farms is pleased to support CPS in its goal of implementing food safety initiatives at the speed of our industry.
