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

Photo shows red apples on a sorting line of Zhaotong Chaoyue Agriculture Co., Ltd. in Zhaotong, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

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.

Workers work on a sorting line of Zhaotong Chaoyue Agriculture Co., Ltd. in Zhaotong, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

Zhang Zhongwei, deputy general manager of the company, said the line can sort 20 tonnes of apples — about 100,000 apples — per hour, with high accuracy and consistent standards, replacing what was previously a labor-intensive, error-prone manual process.

Thanks to Zhaotong's low-latitude, high-altitude plateau climate and abundant sunshine, its apples ripen 20 to 30 days earlier than the same varieties grown in northern China, giving growers an edge in the domestic fresh fruit market. The city now grows apples across 850,000 mu, including 196,300 mu of early-ripening varieties.

Zhaotong's total apple output this year is expected to reach 1.4 million tonnes, with the combined output value projected to exceed 16 billion yuan (about $2.38 billion).

Photo shows red apples on a sorting line of Zhaotong Chaoyue Agriculture Co., Ltd. in Zhaotong, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

Photo shows red apples on a sorting line of Zhaotong Chaoyue Agriculture Co., Ltd. in Zhaotong, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)

Workers work on a sorting line of Zhaotong Chaoyue Agriculture Co., Ltd. in Zhaotong, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Cheng Hao)