New to Precision Crop Load Management?
Precision crop load management (PCLM) is a scientific approach to calculating optimal crop loads for fruit crops in order generate maximum year-over-year profits. This is accomplished by pruning and thinning throughout the growing season, reducing surplus buds, blooms, and fruit to enable the tree to produce the most high quality fruit while preserving its ability to bear fruit the following year.
Dr. Terrence Robinson, a fruit physiologist from Cornell and one of the originators or precision crop load management, has presented long-term research that demonstrates the process has the potential to deliver between $5,000 and $10,000 per acre in increased productivity.
Extrapolating profit out to a per tree basis for orchards with an average of 1000 trees per acre results in additional potential income of $1 to $5 per tree.
The only thing holding precision crop load management back until now has been a very practical one: how to collect enough accurate data without spending too much on labor.
Enter FruitScout. Our simple innovation — using photos taken on your phone to provide you with accurate sizing and counts — means you can unlock the potential financial returns of precision crop load management without the risk of big upfront costs or having to adopt new techniques.
FruitScout eliminates the tedious counting and sizing tasks necessary to PCLM while reducing the cost of collecting that data from hours to minutes. Whether your goal is increased profits or reduced costs, FruitScout makes doing so easy and low risk.
Precision Crop Load Management Resources
Start by watching Dr. Terence Robinson’s overview of key PCLM concepts.
Then dig into the details in these helpful articles:
Precision Crop Load Management
Learn about the economic impacts of implementing the process at your orchard. By Terence Robinson, Cornell University.
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Read about predicting fruit set, a pillar of the PCLM model. By Philip Schwallier, Amy Irish-Brown, Michigan State University Extension Clarksville, Michigan.
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Find out about research on a mechanical alternative to chemical thinning. By L. Damerow, C. Seehuber and M. Blanke, University of Bonn, Germany.
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Offers a comprehensive rundown of emerging technologies focused on PCLM. By Kate Prengaman, Good Fruit Grower.
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