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Drought Dries Up Hope For A Good Harvest

Drought conditions continued into October for Alabama. According to the Oct. 3 Drought Monitor, over half of Alabama suffered drought. The remainder was abnormally dry.
 
Record-breaking heat and limited or no rainfall this summer and early fall damaged crops, leading to concerns about yields and grade quality. The Alabama Farmers Federation’s Carla Hornady said yields will vary across the state, depending on which fields received sporadic showers. Parched earth made it difficult for peanut farmers to dig the legumes.
 
Drought also caused farmers to delay planting winter vegetables.
 
 
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Designing a Robotic Berry Picker

Video: Designing a Robotic Berry Picker


Since blackberries must be harvested by hand, the process is time-consuming and labor-intensive. To support a growing blackberry industry in Arkansas, food science associate professor Renee Threlfall is collaborating with mechanical engineering assistant professor Anthony Gunderman to develop a mechanical harvesting system. Most recently, the team designed a device to measure the force needed to pick a blackberry without damaging it. The data from this device will help inform the next stage of development and move the team closer to the goal of a fully autonomous robotic berry picker. The device was developed by Gunderman, with Yue Chen, a former U of A professor now at Georgia Tech, and Jeremy Collins, then a U of A undergraduate engineering student. To determine the force needed to pick blackberries without damage, the engineers worked with Threlfall and Andrea Myers, then a graduate student.