About 30 dried grape growers and industry personnel joined Dried Fruits Australia at a field walk last week to see a demonstration of the latest version of a mechanical winter pruner.
Stephen and Malcolm Bennett hosted the group at their Merbein property, where they’ve been making adjustments to the mechanical winter pruner that was initially developed by the industry in conjunction with La Trobe University and Mallee Regional Innovation Centre.
Since that project wrapped up, they have been making adjustments to the pruner unit, improving the lidar sensing mechanism to reliably track the cordon, and ensure the cutting head movements are effective.
The demonstration Thursday showed this mechanism was working effectively, and work was continuing on increasing ground speed and the cutting head design.
Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/shears-scissors-garden-gardening-1336374/
