Identify the right equipment for your situation. It will differ from farm to farm.
- If all the orchards (or over 80%) on the farm are within ¼ mile of the pack-house/ storage complex, then picking trains can take a full load back to the storage complex and be unloaded and re-loaded with empty bins. If a train has 6 bins this is equivalent to 3 trips of a tractor-mounted rear end forklift and is less damaging during movement.
- Where at least half the orchards are between ¼ and ½ mile (400-800 metres) from the pack-house/storage complex it may not be feasible for a picking train to be unloaded and to return to the orchard without loss of picking time. It may be easier to unload at the orchard and then transport the bins to the storage complex separately. A good system is to use a tractor-mounted forklift and a trailer capable of carrying up to eight bins.
- Where the system described above is used, the fruit will be carried to the headland by the train and unloaded into stacks of bins ready for loading onto a trailer.
- If picking trains are not used, then a tractor with a rear-mounted forklift is the best way to get the bins out of the alleys and placed in rows on the outside of the orchards for transport back to the storage complex.
- If all the orchards are greater than ½ mile (800 metres) from the packhouse/storage complex transport systems become more complex. In such situations, it is more convenient to transport the fruit on purpose-built bin/pallet transporters or lorries.
- Self-loading bin transporters are quick and efficient. Their delivery rate over short and medium distances may make bin stacking in the orchard unnecessary.