# Mechanized Grape Harvest Efficiency
## 1 Introduction  
On a nationwide scale, the vineyard is grown on an area of approx. 8 mil. ha, although within the Slovak Republic, it is currently grown on an area of 18,000 ha. Specific cultivation technologies are still characterized by a relatively high need for manual labor, which is 400 to 600 h-ha\({}^{-1}\) of fertile vineyard. One of the most demanding work operations in terms of labor is the collection of grapes, which accounts for up to 30% of the total need for working time (in practice it represents 120-160 h-ha\({}^{-1}\)). Grape harvesting can be affected by several factors under operating conditions (meteorological factors, grape health, varieties, yield, type of line and planting clips, total area harvested). In recent years, the more complex availability of labor and the rising cost of human labor have been a significant factor. These aspects therefore lead to the increasing use of fully mechanized grape harvesting with the use of tractor-mounted or self-propelled harvesters [1]. In Slovakia, agriculturerecords the most significant decline in employment of all sectors of the national economy. Back in 1995, agriculture was the third largest sector with almost 200,000 employees. At present, it belongs to the least numerous branch in the Slovak Republic, with the number of employees just exceeding 50,000 [2]. In the conditions of the Slovak Republic, the issue of the method of grape harvest and its economic evaluation is generally only studied by the research team from the university (SPU in Nitra). There is no such knowledge. Partially mechanized harvesting is so far the most widespread work procedure applied in the grape harvest. It is implemented mainly by small and medium-sized enterprises with growing areas, which are often scattered over several territorial units. Large companies use it mainly for over-harvest harvesting and for harvesting grapes intended to produce high-quality wines. In the 1990s, winegrowing enterprises in the Slovak Republic solved the problems associated with transformation and privatization and had a relatively sufficient supply of cheap labor at their disposal [3]. Therefore, most investments were initially directed to the provision of cultivation technologies, the renewal and restructuring of vineyards, and to processing technologies. However, it can be expected that the use of partially mechanized harvesting for large areas of vineyards will be very problematic in the future due to the permanent loss of seasonal workers, especially in terms of ensuring harvesting on schedule. The gradual loss of labor over the last 90 years and the ever-increasing price of manual labor on the market forced growers to invest funds in the purchase of modern viticultural equipment to maintain the profitability of production. This moment was also the impetus for the first wave of grape harvester use in operational practice in the years 2000 to 2006, realized mainly by transformed agricultural cooperatives or private entities with large growing areas [4]. Even in the former Czechoslovakia in the 1970s, experiments with mechanized collection took place, as stated by [PERSON] [5], but at that time this method was not adopted and no results from the monitoring of losses from this period were published. The influence of mechanized harvesting on the quality of wine in terms of sensory properties in comparison with manual harvesting was monitored. These measurements were performed by the Comprehensive Research Institute of Viticulture and Enology Bratislava [6]. Thanks to the gradual establishment of modern grape harvesters in South Moravia, in the years 2006 to 2008 there was a demand for these machines (especially for semi-trailer machines) from medium-sized companies with an area of over 30 ha. At the same time, in these years, the first entities offering the possibility of mechanized collection in the form of a service also appeared on the market.