At its peak, Oregon produced 21 percent of the nation's
total commercial strawberry production. However, since
1971, Oregon's share of strawberry production has been
declining steadily. In fact, for the last three years
strawberry production in Oregon constitutes only 8 percent
of the nation's total production, which is the lowest since
the end of the Korean War (Figure 1). Among other factors,
the increase in harvest cost without an offsetting increase
in the farm prices of strawberries, is the main cause for
the continuing decline of strawberry production in Oregon.
Decrease in the supply of strawberry pickers is the
main cause for the upward trend of the strawberry harvest
cost in Oregon. Particularly, since 1973, due to enactment
of the child labor law, the shortage in the supply of strawberry
pickers in Oregon has intensified, causing further
escalation in harvest cost. Thus, in order to alleviate
the problems associated with harvest cost, since 1967,
Oregon has been actively seeking to mechanize its strawberry
harvest.
The principal objective of this thesis has been to
evaluate the economic feasibility of mechanical strawberry
harvest in Oregon. As demonstrated in Chapter V, depending
on the assumptions about the quality and the average yield
of the strawberry varieties that would eventually be harvested
mechanically, and the efficiency of the harvester;
the expected savings per acre to the strawberry growers from
the use of mechanical harvester was shown to range from a
net saving of $523.50 to a net loss of $186.76 (Table 9).
Even though negative savings are shown to appear when extremely
unfavorable conditions are assumed, in the majority
of cases discussed in Chapter V, the implementation of
mechanical strawberry harvesting in Oregon is found to be
associated with significant positive returns to the growers.
In addition, in Chapter VI, under certain conditions
which are expected to prevail if mechanization of strawberry
harvest become a reality in Oregon, the annual gross
and net 'social rate of returns' were estimated to be 330
percent and 95.7 percent respectively. The difference between
the gross and net social rate of return is the wage
loss of the displaced workers. Based on the above social
return figures and the estimated savings to the growers,
it appears that mechanical strawberry harvesting is an
economically viable alternative that could eventually
solve the problem of the growing shortage of strawberry
pickers in Oregon. / Graduation date: 1978
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/25963 |
| Date | 08 May 1978 |
| Creators | Hussen, Ahmed M. |
| Contributors | Brown, William G. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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