A few weeks ago, Johnson Industrial Projects General Manager, Sebastián Johnson, visited cherry fields and plants in the states of Oregon and Washington in the United States, where he was able to learn about new developments to bring and implement in Chile. One of them was night harvesting.
Night harvesting is a method implemented in Washington fields, since a law has been in place since 2008 that protects those who work outdoors from exposure to temperatures above 27°C, in which for each rise in temperature they must go to cool off and take ten-minute breaks every one or two hours. During Johnson's visit, a heat wave affected the state, reaching extreme temperatures of over 42°C, so night harvesting was the only way for harvesters to carry out their work.
At Johnson Industrial Projects, we believe that implementing night harvesting in our country is not a far-fetched possibility, as we are increasingly approaching extreme temperatures during the harvest season that directly affect the quality of the fruit. Therefore, changing the schedule or bringing forward the start of the harvesters' work to dawn would be essential to avoid the deterioration of the cherries.
