Abstract

Harvest Safety Rating System
Track: Agriculture
Authors: Jonathan Vevoda

One of our projects at Schied Vineyards is our Harvest Safety Rating System project. Much of the 5,000 acres of vines at Scheid are harvested by machines that shake the vine and collect the grapes as they fall and deposit them into bins. The machines are large, slow, and can be dangerous to operate in steep slope areas or around obstacles or drop offs so more experienced crews are assigned to the more dangerous blocks. To find out how the blocks should be rated we used a Weighted Linear Combination Index Model to create index values from seven different factors. The factors are slope, end row width, trellis type, variety, utility poles, drop off, and average row length. Once the factors are weighted and the index values calculated the blocks will be ranked as Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced so crews with appropriate experience can be assigned to the block.