Six Bobcat T770 track loaders have been employed by Spain-based Servicios Agrícolas La Pamparioma to complete its olive harvests. Beyond picking the fruit, the company uses its Bobcat machines for other tasks such as earthmoving and maintaining plantations.
Over 5,000,000 kilos of olives were picked in last year’s harvest using the Bobcat T770 loaders, which have been fitted with olive tree shaker attachments with umbrellas and vibrating clamps adapted to the size of olives in the area. Harvesting approximately 160,000 olive trees, covering 800 hectares of land, took 100 days (or around 6000 working hours) to complete.
Francisco Bujalance, Manager of Servicios Agrícolas La Pamparioma, said: “In our increasingly competitive sector we need to innovate in order to stay productive – but without losing our roots and respect for the environment. The Bobcat T770 Compact Track Loaders are ideal for this type of work for a number of reasons. For one thing, we need less staff – the work is easier and progresses faster. They are also well suited for various, even difficult, terrains – whether flat or sloping, dry or muddy. Their performance and manoeuvrability are another big plus. For reasons of space, olive plantations are becoming increasingly packed. It takes a very compact machine such as the Bobcat T770 to move in these narrow lanes with speed and ease.”
He added: “The Bobcat T770 with its umbrella and clamp gets much more done than any other olive harvester. Add to that reduced labour costs, and you get an excellent ROI in the medium term. What is more, we don’t need to move or handle the olives as much because the umbrella goes directly into the trailer, making the whole job cleaner and allowing us to harvest the product quickly, when it’s at its best. The Bobcat T770 does not require modifications prior to harvesting, whereas other machines do. This speeds up the start-up phase, as there is no need for a mechanic, also saving costs.”
