PLANT CITY, Fla. — Technology is all around us, and it’s now making an impact in the farming industry.

Last season, Harvest Croo completed a test run of its fully automated strawberry harvesting machine at Wish Farms.

What You Need To Know

  • Wish Farms is incorporating technology into strawberry season

  • Harvest Croo is a company aimed at transforming automated agriculture with technology

  • The machine, known as "B8," uses AI machine learning, food safety technology and breeding techniques to pick the berry and pack it

  • Wish Farms owner and Harvest Croo co-founder Gary Wishnatzki said he hopes to see field crews work alongside the automated harvester

Strawberry season is in full swing from November to April. During that time, crews are hard at work getting the berry from the field to the store. But what if that process could be quicker?

Harvest Croo is a company focused on transforming automated agriculture with technology. Wish Farms is looking to kick-start that process with a strawberry harvester known as "B8."

“Technology, it’s been moving. It’s been quite incredible,” said Gary Wishnatzki, owner of Wish Farms and co-founder of Harvest Croo.

He says a field trial was completed last strawberry season.

The B8 harvesting machine uses AI machine learning, food safety technology and breeding techniques to pick the berry and pack it. 

Wishnatzki said incorporating technology will help farmers be more efficient. The trial also reached performance rates on par with human harvesters.  

“Guest workers, they’re on a contract and they have to go back at a certain time, so we can pick deep into the season using this machine,” he said.

The machine can pick up to eight acres of berries in one day, running both day and night. Wishnatzki says this machine won’t just do more, it will keep costs low as well.

“The exponential cost increases we’ve experienced as growers is not sustainable, so we started looking back 13 years ago for automated solutions,” he said.

Wishnatzki said he believes this machine is that solution, but the goal isn’t to eliminate field crews. He hopes to see them work alongside the harvester.

“There’s less and less people doing this work, so if we don’t have this automation, we’re going to be in a situation where strawberries could get to a point where they’re not affordable to consumers, or as available as they are today,” he said.

Wish Farms officials said their goal is to have at least three automated harvesting machines at the start of the next strawberry season.