Last Monday, 25 January, Australia's largest tomato processor Kagome Australia began harvesting crops. The harvest will continue until early April, by which time Kagome will have harvested 250,000 tonnes of tomatoes from its own farms and other suppliers.
Teams of four workers operate in three eight-hour shifts, ensuring 24-hour harvesting and processing. Field operations general manager Jason Fritsch said the aim was to get the tomatoes from the field to its Echuca processing plant — which processes up to 4000 tonnes a day — in less than 10 hours.
“There’s a strong focus that we’re minimising the amount of time between when the tomatoes are harvested and to when they’re processed,” Mr Fritsch said.
Rich colour, high viscosity and the ability to stay fresh for long periods in the field are the characteristics Mr Fritsch looks for in his tomatoes.
After months of crop preparation, where seedlings are planted in September and October to deliver a consistent volume of fruit, harvesters with optical sorters ensure at least 95 per cent of the tomatoes that make it to the processing plant are red.
Kagome chief executive John Brady said rain had slowed the first week of harvest but it was shaping up to be a strong season.
Source: weeklytimesnow.com.au