Cherry Sorting: Then and Now
In the mid 1800’s a missionary decided to plant cherry trees. He was surprised when his crop did very well in the fertile land around the U.S. Great Lakes area. That was the beginning of the fruit growing and processing industry. In the beginning suppliers used human labor for harvesting, sorting, packing, and shipping. As demand for the delicious fruit grew, machines replaced many of the processes. However, cherries present a special problem. Unlike larger fruits, there small size make accurate cherry sorting and grading difficult. Modern technology solved this problem with a Windows XP system that uses cameras to size cherries. The markets for cherries continue to expand, and so do the methods to supply them.