Tomsk berry growers are testing a new harvester of domestic production

In the Kozhevnikovsky district, an experimental sample of a self-propelled full-row harvester "Stavrus" for harvesting berries arrived at the berry farm of Vyacheslav Zharikov.
The machine is designed for mechanical harvesting of berries in the fields without the use of supports and tying bushes. Varieties should be no more than 1.8 m high and suitable for mechanical harvesting. A whole row is cleaned in one pass .
“In our opinion, the harvester showed good results. Together with specialists, we continue to study the question of the expediency of its purchase, evaluate the design features. It's great that Russian manufacturers have a test option. This is beneficial for both the manufacturer and the buyer. The farmer only needs to pay for the delivery, and then, based on the results of the tests, make a decision: buy or send back,” said Vyacheslav Zharikov.
The harvester has already been tested for honeysuckle at the State Unitary Enterprise "Bakcharskoye": more than 500 kg of berries were harvested from an area of ​​0.35 hectares . In addition to honeysuckle, the harvester can also collect raspberries. For harvesting, it was necessary to pre-cut the honeysuckle bushes, adjust the harvester suspension, the coverage of the bush and shaking fingers.
“The berry was harvested with minimal losses and was not crumpled and clean, which surprised us. We want to purchase such a combine, but there are nuances regarding registration documents and the purchase for us as a state-owned enterprise. We will work on it. Any technique needs to be customized for specific conditions. It’s good that samples for tuning have begun to appear in RUSSIA, too,” said Roman Pushkin , DIRECTOR of the Bakcharskoe State Unitary Enterprise.
The cost of a Russian berry harvester is 2.5 million rubles, six times less than the cost of similar foreign equipment. Farmers note that the domestic unit is no worse than foreign ones in operation, and at such a price it compares favorably with imported analogues.