A Bioeconomic Simulation Model to Evaluate the Adoption of Electrically Operated Machine in Harvesting Asparagus

摘要

Manual labor accounts for more than half of the costs of asparagus production. With rising labor costs it is necessary to explore the profitability of mechanized harvesting methods. This research compares the profitability of an electrically operatedharvester to harvesting manually and a selective mechanical harvester. More than 1,500 electrically operated harvesters have been sold in Europe and it may present an opportunity to asparagus growers in the US because it can reduce the need for manual labor in half A bioeconomic simulation model determines the nearly optimal yield and profit for each of the three harvesting methods. The profitability of the electrically operated harvester is 2,017 dollar per hectare, which is less than manual harvesting, 3,100 dollar/ha, but better than the selective mechanical harvester, 850 dollar/ha. Sensitivity analysis to several key assumptions are considered, and manual harvesting is always more profitable; even increasing the hourly wages by 33%, to 10.00 dollar, the profit of the electrically operated harvester is 800 dollar/ha less than manual harvesting.