Doing The DOV Dance: New techniques and equipment for dried-on-the-vine (DOV) raisins could stop this industry from shriveling

摘要

A TECHNIQUE that may eliminate two of the major problems facing raisin growers—damage from rain during harvest and having an inadequate labor supply—is being tried in California's San Joaquin Valley, the center of the nation's raisin industry. For about 100 years, raisin grapes have been picked and placed on trays in vineyards to dry. Thousands of workers are needed to pick the grapes, then turn the trays so the grapes will dry evenly, and finally to roll the dried grapes in the paper trays and box them before the raisins are taken to packinghouses.