HIgh Tech Cherry Sorting

I 'm Susan Allen with the Fruit Grower Report. It high tech all the way when Rainier Fruit sorts and packs Cherries today . One of the largest cherry growers in the West . The company has spent the last 10 moths building a new packing line that incorporates the lasted technology. Here is Scott Pryse

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"Pryse: It's a state of the art, color sorting, defect sorting computerized totally biotitics, through cameras as the cherry actually lines up the stems then it rolls the cherry underneath the camera so it can see both sides of the cherry and can identity defects on that cherry and kick them out. Where it's always been a hand sorting process we now have technology that can go ahead and give you a more consistent product than ever. This line can go ahead and run light sweet cherries, meaning Rainier variety and dark sweet at the same time which is extremely new to our industry.

With 48 lanes, the cherry line is the largest cherry line that has ever been built From a production standpoint, it's built with the latest generation of optical color and defect sorting, the new cherry line will minimize the time from picking to loading. The in-line cooling capacity makes it possible for Rainier to take freshly packed cherries right off the line and into the truck, improving shelf life, and providing a better eating experience for the consumer.

Packer reports that Rainier's cherry volumes are expected to be steady throughout the crop, with transitions between varieties and growing districts showing some compression, particularly toward the later part of the season. They are projected to market more than 3 million 20-pound equivalent cases.