FIFTY years ago, vineyards were full of people at harvest time, picking grapes by hand. Large crews would work long days over many weeks to bring in a crop. Over time, fewer and fewer people wanted to pick grapes and it became difficult to find the needed labor. The development of the mechanical grape harvester enabled farmers to overcome this problem by picking grapes faster and with less labor, reducing their harvest costs. Despite the large capital outlay required to purchase the equipment, mechanical grape harvesting has become the norm for juice and bulk wine growers, as well as for a growing number of premium winegrape growers, because of the labor savings.
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