Efficiency of Three Harvesters and their Effect on Quality of Raw and Processed Snap Beans

The 3 harvesters tested provided about the same harvest efficiency. Harvesters did not show significant differences in sound, broken, and bruised pods harvested from 2 fields. More pod clusters and less trash were obtained in the field with more mature pods. Under the same field conditions, 2.6 times more snap beans could be harvested with the FMC model GB-110 and Chisholm-Ryder Multi-Density than with the Chisholm-Ryder Hi-Boy. Quality differences of canned beans harvested with the machines were too small to differentiate by the USDA standards for grades of canned snap beans.