| MTI funds
help bring Maine blueberry picker to market
Maine Technology Institute
February 5, 2003
GARDINER, Maine - A new portable blueberry picker
will soon be on sale throughout Maine thanks to a $90,000
performance grant awarded by the Maine Technology Institute
(MTI) to a small company in Columbia Falls.
"Without the money I received from MTI I would
not have had the opportunity to fully develop the portable
blueberry picker and bring it to market," said
Zane Emerson, owner of Maine Blueberry Equipment.
"When you run a one-man shop like I do, there
is no good time to take away from your regular business
to build a new product, no matter how much it's needed," Emerson
added. "The MTI money allows me to take this winter
off from my regular business and build several blueberry
pickers."
"That is just the type of result we hope for
each time we approve a grant or a development award," said
Dr. Janet Yancey-Wrona, executive director of MTI. "It
is always our intention to help Maine companies bring
their products to market, add jobs and become a commercial
success."
In business since 1977, Emerson has a great reputation
in the Washington County-area for fixing equipment
for blueberry harvesting and for building the necessary
equipment needed for that industry.
"I look to fill the needs of blueberry pickers
and handlers," Emerson said. "I guess I've
fixed or built just about every kind of machinery used
by the pickers, handlers or packers."
In fact, Emerson's claim to fame so far has been building
and selling 1,400 small and efficient winnowing machines
that replaced a bigger and bulkier model built by a
company that went out of business.
"I saw the need, built the machine and sold it," Emerson
said. "It's the same thing with the portable blueberry
picker. There's a need. I built and tested the prototype
and now I'm ready to fill orders that I've already
received for the machine."
Built
from scratch by Emerson (he manufactures all the
small parts needed for the picker), the walk-behind
machine weighs about 300 pounds but is easily maneuverable
("My 8- and 10-year-old children have no problem
running it," Emerson said), is 32 inches wide,
four feet long and measures about 40 inches to the
top of the handle.
"There are a lot of small growers excited about
what I'm doing," Emerson said. "Harvesting
is expensive and a hand crew can cost up to $1,000
a day. The machines is going to cost about $8,000 and
it will allow one person to go around and harvest several
of the small fields that aren't even big enough to
be picked by a hand crew right now."
There's more to it than that, however. On Sept. 14,
Emerson went into a field that had been picked by hand
a couple days before. He worked the field for less
than three hours and ended up filling 56 boxes with
blueberries.
"The machine just goes right straight ahead and
back and forth," he said. "Hand pickers go
only where they see a lot of blueberries. Believe me,
when they leave a field, there is still plenty of product
left."
Emerson
is delighted that a low-tech action such as raking
blueberries can be done by something so high-tech
as his portable picker. "It works, I know it works," he
said, "and people who have seen it know it works
too. That's why I'm getting orders from people in this
area."
Emerson
also admits he was shocked when the MTI board approved
his grant application. "It was like winning
the lottery," he laughed. "I never thought
I would be approved. After all, I'm way up here in
Columbia Falls. I never even thought they had heard
of the town, much less my company."
However,
everyone connected with MTI has been great, Emerson
said. "You know, we're a little laid back
here in Columbia Falls," he added, "but it
doesn't seem to bother the folks at MTI. They have
been real supportive.
"I can't ask any more than that. Besides, like
I said, this project would not have been possible without
the Maine Technology Institute and its programs. It's
a great opportunity for small manufacturers and businesses
like mine," Emerson said.
The MTI was created by the Legislature in 1999 to
encourage, promote, stimulate and support research
and development activity leading to the commercialization
of new products and services in the state's technology-intensive
industrial sectors.
The targeted technology sectors include advanced technologies
for forestry and agriculture, aquaculture and marine
technology, biotechnology, composites materials technology,
environmental technology, information technology and
precision manufacturing technology.
Since
its inception, MTI has approved more than $8 million
in funding to 118 different companies throughout
all of Maine involved in its targeted technology sectors.
This is matched by over $12 million of co-investments
by the companies themselves. "To date, we have
dispersed almost $4 million of those committed funds
based on milestone achievements," Yancey-Wrona
said, "and Maine Blueberry Equipment is just our
latest success story." |
