The market for hand-held harvesters has been expanding rapidly in Brazil, the latest P&A Coffidential newsletter reported. P&A Coffidential reported that a leading manufacturer indicated sales were up 55 per cent from January to June 2012, compared to the same period last year, sourcing Agencia Estado. The newsletter highlighted that handheld harvesters can dramatically increase the volume of coffee harvested per person, and costs can be lowered by 40 per cent when compared to traditional manual picking of cherries. P&A Coffidential's Carlos Brado previously spoke with Global Coffee Review on the advantages in mechanical harvesting, and their inevitable growth where labour costs become too high. To read full story see <Mechanisation on the Farm>. The P&A Coffidential newsletter celebrated its fifth year anniversary in July. It is currently published in English and Spanish, translated into Chinese and Buhasa Indonesian, and sent to almost 5000 readers in 107 countries around the world.
