During the 2026 apple harvest, NP Seymour trialled the Munckhof Pluk O Trak Junior with two fruit growers, one in Herefordshire and one in Kent.
The trials gave both businesses the opportunity to use the machine in their own orchards and assess how it could fit their picking operation. They could consider the machine alongside their tree height, row width, ground conditions, bin handling and usual crew numbers.
For the Herefordshire trial, a small group of growers also attended, giving them the chance to see the Pluk O Trak in action and Jelle Stappers from Munckhof joined the NP Seymour team to demonstrate the machine and answer questions.
Keeping the picking team moving
The Pluk O Trak Junior is designed to reduce the amount of walking, carrying and bin handling involved in picking fruit. Four to six people can pick from the ground, while two more work from the adjustable platforms. The controls are designed to be straightforward, and the platforms can be moved in all directions to allow pickers to reach different parts of the tree without ladders.
Each picker places the fruit onto a conveyor belt, which carries it to the rotating bin filler. This distributes the fruit evenly within the bin and adjusts its height as the bin fills. Once full, the bin is lowered and replaced from the accompanying bin trailer so that the picking team can continue working with less interruption.
Instead of each person moving between the tree and the bin, the machine brings together the picking platforms, conveyors and bin-filling system in one operation. As it offers a different way of organising the picking process, the trials allowed growers to see how the Pluk O Trak Junior handled their unique orchard conditions and worked with their typical crew and bin handling systems.
M Connect harvest registration
While not used during the trials, the Pluk O Trak Junior can be supplied with Munckhof’s optional M Connect harvest registration system.
Using an RFID tag or barcode assigned to each bin, M Connect links harvest information to that individual bin. It can record the GPS location of a full bin, how long it took to fill and when members of the picking team clocked in and out. This gives growers a clearer record of harvest progress and allows fruit to be traced from the tree through to the cold store.
When fitted with the optional camera system, M Connect can also record the number of fruits entering the bin, together with information about their size, colour and quality classification to give the grower a more detailed picture of the crop as it is picked.
Neither grower used M Connect during the Herefordshire or Kent trials. The observations from these trials therefore relate to the practical operation of the Pluk O Trak Junior, including picking, fruit handling, access to the trees and bin filling, rather than its data collection features.
The platforms can also be used outside harvest for jobs such as pruning, hand thinning, trellis maintenance and working with crop protection netting.
If you would like to discuss the Pluk O Trak Junior for your harvest operations please contact NP Seymour on 01580 712200 or email sales@npseymour.co.uk.