Cripps Pink harvest management — optimising quality and profit

March 2008 | Presented by Marcel Veens | Future Orchards® presentation

Cripps Pink harvest management requires growers to balance colour development, maturity, fruit condition and the economics of multiple picks. In this March 2008 Future Orchards® presentation, Marcel Veens focuses on the decisions that help convert a high-quality crop into a profitable packout.

The resource emphasises planning harvest around the quality characteristics that determine market acceptance. Colour, size and maturity need to be assessed together, and blocks should be picked according to market readiness rather than convenience alone.

Multiple-pick strategies can improve the proportion of fruit meeting specification, but they also add labour and handling costs. The management challenge is therefore to identify where selective harvesting adds value and where it simply increases cost. Good maturity monitoring and clear picker instructions are essential.

The presentation is useful for growers managing late-season Pink Lady®/Cripps Pink blocks because it connects orchard quality targets directly with harvest sequencing, labour use and profitability.