Peaches, not surprisingly, pack a punch for Georgia’s economy.
Over 130 million pounds of peaches are produced in Georgia per year, and the Southern staple has a total farm gate value of over $71 million, according to recent estimates.
But cultivating peaches is a complex and manually-intensive process that has put a strain on many farms stretched for time and workers. To solve this problem, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has developed an intelligent robot that is designed to handle the human-based tasks of thinning and pruning peach trees, which could result in significant cost savings for peach farms in Georgia.
“Most folks are familiar with the harvesting of fruit and picking it up at the market,” said Ai-Ping Hu, a GTRI senior research engineer who is leading the robot design project. “But there’s actually a lot more stuff that gets done before that point in the cultivation cycle.”
By using a LIDAR remote sensing system – which determines distances by targeting an object with a laser and measuring the amount of time it takes for the laser beam to reflect back – and a highly-specialized GPS technology that measures locations as specific as a fraction of an inch, the robot is able to self-navigate through peach orchards while steering clear of obstacles. Once at a peach tree, the robot uses an embedded 3D camera to determine which peaches need to be removed, and removes the peaches using a claw-like device, known as an end effector, that is connected to the end of its arm. - Read more of this Fruit Growers News article.
By 27 September 2021, employers (other than small business employers) need to assess whether any existing casual employees (employed before 27 March 2021), are eligible to be offered to convert to permanent employment.
Employers need to:
To accept an offer to convert, employees need to respond in writing within 21 days after getting the offer. If they don’t respond, employers can assume that they’ve declined the offer.
Read more about casual employees becoming permanent.
Watch our video about the changes to casual employment laws, including how small business employers are affected and the Casual Employment Information Statement.
A limited number of scholarships are now available for women in the horticulture sector to participate in a range of leadership courses.
These scholarships enable more women within the horticulture sector to access powerful and effective leadership development opportunities, and support gender equity across the sector. The funding is available to women working in both levy and non-levy paying organisations. Expressions of interest close Friday 8 October unless allocated prior.
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