Smart technology boosts early-ripening apple harvest in SW China's Yunnan

Since early August, early-ripening apples across nearly 200,000 mu (about 13,333 hectares) of orchards in Zhaotong, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, have entered the peak of the harvest season.

At one base run by Zhaotong Chaoyue Agriculture Co., Ltd., apples move through a smart sorting line. They first pass through a water flotation channel that carries them gently along to prevent bruising, before moving to spray-washing and hot-air drying sections that clean and polish their skins.

The heart of the line is a smart inspection system, in which four sets of high-definition cameras scan each apple from all angles, detecting surface blemishes, color uniformity, size and weight, as well as internal traits invisible to the naked eye, sugar content, browning and mold-related defects. Apples that pass inspection are assigned a unique ID, graded and sorted automatically to meet different market demands.