A Summerland farmer who created the worldѻý first non-browning apple has a new plan to use genetic engineering, robotics, and AI to dramatically reduce the number of people needed to work on a farm.
Neal Carter hopes to create an apple tree that produces fruit at a single height that would allow for swift mechanical harvesting. Labour costs currently account for 60 per cent of an apple farmѻý operating costs, he says.
“Escalating labour costs are the primary challenge to the continued viability of the U.S. apple industry,” says Carter, co-founder of Okanagan Speciality Fruits. “A radical transformation is necessary for the industryѻý survival.
“Orchardists everywhere are facing similar challenges that demand bold and timely solutions,” Carter says.
Carter developed Arctic Apples, a variety that does not brown when the fruit is sliced. While the company is still based in Summerland, it was acquired by an affiliate of Third Security, LLC in 2019 and Arctic Apples are grown and processed around Moses Lake, WA.
Washington State is by far the biggest producer of apples in the U.S., with an annual crop of 179 million bushels worth $2B (U.S) The Washington State crop accounts for two-thirds of all apples grown in the U.S.
But the industry south of the border is plagued by many of the same issues familiar to Okanagan growers, such as low market prices, extreme weather, and soaring costs for fuel, fertilizer, and labour.
Carter outlined his plan for the fruit industry to make a sweeping embrace of genome editing, robotics, and AI in a white paper called ‘Traits and Tech: Designing the Orchard of the Future’. He also expounded on the vision during symposiums on agricultural innovation held April30 at Big Bend Community College, which included demonstrations of how AI and robotic-like tools can be used in orchards.
By altering an apple treeѻý germplasm, Carter says, its fruit can be produced at a single height. That would facilitate the nearly full automation of production and harvesting through robotics and AI, he says.
“These changes will significantly reduce production costs, support sustainable agricultural practices, and ensure the industryѻý continued economic viability,” he says. Projected savings of about $9,000 an acre could be achieved over current production costs of about $15,000 an acre, he says.
Some other recent developments in the apple industry - such as increasing the density of tree plantings and developing new dwarfing rootstocks - have actually increased the overall cost of production, Carter says.
“Improved genetics represent the industryѻý only real option to implement a market-disrupting, game-changing system that can effectively reduce the high labour demands that are economically unsustainable,” he says.
Quick Facts
- Up until the late ‘70s, commercial apple orchards had a density of about 100 trees per acre. Farmers could spend an entire day pruning one tree
- To boost efficiency, higher-yielding varieties and different planting strategies were introduced. Some U.S. farms have as many as 2,400 trees per acre.
- Summerland orchardist Neal Carter envisions a ‘farm of the future’ with about 1,800 apple trees per acre, but with all the fruit grown at a standard height and harvesting done through a combination of AI and robotic technology.