The Orchard Contour Pruner in horticulture in condition of staff shortage.

Part 1: Orchard Contour Pruner.

Visa-free regime implementation and loyal attitude towards labor migration of EU member states - led to a massive outflow of labor resources from Ukraine.

It is worth noting that both skilled and non-skilled workers leave the country. Providing wages at the level of Poland for example is extremely difficult in the current economic condition.

As a result, such situation has led to the necessity of mechanization of those processes in horticulture which have hitherto been performed manually.

One of the most important processes is carrying out orchard pruning.

Lack of staff, and worst of all, lack of professional workers leads to untimely and unsatisfactory orchard pruning in winter period.

Consequently both quantity and quality of harvest will decrease in the next season.

The only effective solution to resolve this problem is the mechanization of orchard pruning process.

For Ukrainian farmers, garden contour pruning is not new, and not all gardeners use such units. However, every year, the efficiency and return on investment in garden pruners only increases.

1 set of equipment and 1 tractor operator can reduce operation time by 70-80%.

After making one pass by a Tree Pruner, a person follows and only "completes" each tree..

In total, it is possible to "cover" 80-100 ha with one mechanism per season, and reduce the number of workers involved in the operation by 60-70%.

As a result: the investment in above mentioned equipment (provided that 50 hectares are occupied with orchard) returns in the first year.