This year’s Sherry
harvest is expected to see another drop in grape picking by hand. The
unions reckon that 20% less of the crop will be hand-picked, as the machines
are cheaper – by about 50%. Long gone are the days when the Jerez harvest,
along with that of the beetroot, saw hordes (20,000) of workers in the fields.
The machines are taking over leaving many out of work. Not that it is great
work; seven hours on end in the baking heat for 6.17 euros an hour.
Last year’s very small harvest of just over 40 million kilos
employed 6,000 pickers as well as the machines. This year, a harvest of 70
million kilos is forecast, and only 5,000 pickers will be employed – along with
the machines. The vineyards now only extend to 7,000 hectares, of which 60%
will be machine-picked. Labour savings are not the only advantage of the
machines, however; they can pick at night, and much quicker, which helps preserve quality and avoid loss of yield.
The way that the vines are planted obviously affects whether
machines can be used. Some 5,000 of the 7,000 hectares of vineyard are planted
on espaliers (trained on wires), meaning machines can operate there, and it is likely that
machines will pick more next year. A mechanised harvest takes far less time,
but this is not the case in the many small vineyards which will be hand-picked by
the grower’s family.
No comments:
Post a Comment