Tomato leaf-cutting robot already widely in practice in Brittany

A tomato plant can be up to 14 meters long at the end of the growing season. The lower bare stem is guided horizontally, so that the tomatoes that need to be harvested are always hanging at eye level. The lower two to three leaves are cut weekly, as they naturally age and thus become more susceptible to diseases. In addition, they obstruct the view at the bottom and the ripening of the fruits. Dead leaves are placed between the heating tubes. There they dry out. At the end of the season, the greenhouse is cleared. "Leaf cutting is an important task in a tomato nursery. It is on average about 15 percent of the labor budget," says Bas van Steenpaal. He is the Labor Location Manager at Tussenweg 1, one of the branches of Agrocare in Middenmeer, North Holland. It is not the most attractive task, continues Van Steenpaal. "We have agency workers who only do this work and can earn a nice bonus with gas. It is quite simple; people do not need to be extensively trained. The other work, ...