The mechanical  harvesting advances  has reduced the  the harvesting costs in recent years, helping blueberry growers to be more competitive. Ten years ago,  a queters Oregon`s blueberry  production  was made by  machinery, today mechanical harvesting  takes  make more than  90% of this work” (Bernardine Strik, Oregon, 2007).

Percentage of harvest made with machinery in different areas from EE.UU. Destiny of the Fruit: Industry (Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Inc.)

The mechanical harvesting has managed to reduce to the times of harvest in a 250% and the costs in a 55% to the producers in U.S.A., where this technique widely is used due to the high demand which they have the fresh blueberries as much as industrialized. The designs and technology of the mechanical harvester have had a great advance with happening of the time, the one that is translated in a smaller mechanical damage to the shrub and in one better quality of the fruit. It is possible to emphasize that also it has contributed to all the process, the development of varieties and production systems that adapt to the mechanized harvest. In EE.UU. This type of harvest widely is used, mainly in the Northwest of the Pacific, because they present relatively dry conditions of harvest and the industry for the processing of this fruit well is developed.

In humid conditions of harvest, the machinery use can cause greater damage to the fruits, increasing the incidence of diseases like Botrytis (Mechanical Berry Harvest in Ohio; Richard C. Funt, Thomas E. Wall and Joseph C. Scheerens, 1998).
In order to obtain a successful mechanical harvest it is necessary to have characteristic fundamental, according to cultivating with respect to: facility of loosening of the fruit, firmness of the fruit, concentration of the maturity and type of scar of the fruit, among others.

Also it is possible to emphasize that temperatures on 30º C make mechanized the harvest difficult. This must to that to high temperatures amount of mature fruits is extracted minor, unless greater damage to the shrub and the fruit is increased to the power of the mechanism of the machinery, causing, by which is advisable to carry out it to smaller temperatures. If the orchard is wet as a result of a rain it makes difficult the operation since the leaves tend to adhere to the containers of the mechanism collector.

An important point in being considered is the slope of the land; although the present harvesters can travel in lands with some type of slope because they have automatic leveling, the excessive inclination (more than 10% of slope) will interfere with with the operation of plates of the machine, having caused losses of fruit.

For the fields harvested by means of machinery there is a tendency to plant to 0.9 meters (3 ft)on the row and 3 meters (10 ft)between the rows. To the end of the rows a space between 7.5 and 9 meters (25 - 30 ft)is due to let to allow the turn of the harvester. In addition one double row of wires to each side of the row can be placed to hold the shrubs and to facilitate the harvest. The plants must prune every year taking care of to prevent a fragile growth, to foment a turgid growth of the shrub and to maintain the crown narrow (Oregon University).

The machines exist that use the method of balance or inclination and that can laterally self-propelled (direct extraction) or be mounted, these last ones need the presence a tractor for the harvest process. In addition they are the harvesters of rotation that have “horizontal fingers” ready around two vertical axes to each side of the machine, where the fingers “roll” on the shrubs as the machine advances by the row, those that they have the horizontal vibration of the rotatory fingers, those of vertical vibration or a combination of both.

Also machineries exist that have a principle of operation by forced air. The machines advance on the rows in continuous form shaking the main fencing, canes and branches to give off the mature fruit. They use rubber fingers that vibrate horizontally and vertically, that rotates. The mature fruit falls on a retractable platform, formed by several independent sections, that are reconciled to the base of the plant, opening themselves or closing themselves according to the obstacle. Later the fruits move towards conveyor belts, that allow the passage of the fruit by the air cleaners (blowing) to remove strange leaves and bodies, and soon can happen to you run directly of selection or to the containers of harvest.

The harvesters that work with forced air are models of recent introduction in the market. Contact of the machine with the vegetal material does not exist, and the damage of the fruit is smaller in comparison to the previous alternatives.