Apple Tour

APPLE HARVEST

Acres and acres of Apple Varieties
Harvest begins with picking every apple by hand.
Bins full of freshly harvested fruit are pulled from the orchard rows and are ready to load onto trucks.
Trucks bring the fruit to the receiving stations.
Samples are taken from bins for inspection.
Pressure tests and starch tests are taken and logged by grower number and lot number.

	APPLE SORTING AND SIZING (Pre-sized Fruit)

Fruit is brought inside and ready for processing. Fruit to be pre-sized is dumped from the field bins into the presize area.
Apples are then presorted to pull out culls and debris.
The presize room is a vast space. Up to 48 flumes are "presized" and ready for packing.
Apples are graded for color and size, placing them in the appropriate flume for that run.
Apples float down the flumes where they will be placed back into bins and put into refrigeration until packed.

	APPLE SORTING AND SIZING (AFTER presizing and fruit that is NOT presized)

Fruit is brought inside and ready for processing. Fruit that is not presized: Golden Delicious Gingergold Golden Supreme Pink Lady Granny Smith
Field bins and presized bins full of apples run through the automated dumper to begin the process through the packing facilities.
Apples float down the float tanks toward the presort tables.
Apples take a short ride up a conveyor to the presort tables. Presorting helps remove culls and debris.
Apples travel down towards the dryer.
Apples have been cleaned and dried and are now on their way to the color sorter.
The color sorting equiment sorts out color grades.
The step of sorting by hand is still needed.
Apples now have passed the sorting tables and travel down lanes to the individual sizing lanes.
Before fruit is ready to travel to the packing equipment, apples are stickered with a PLU number.
Sizing keeps the fruit a consistant size. Each lane take fruit down the line and is dropped into the appropriate place for packing.
These machines pack the fruit by use of robotics. Suction cups pick up the tray and place it into the carton. Then they pick up a full tray worth of fruit and place it into the carton onto the tray. Then the process is repeated until the carton is full.