# Design and Comparative Analysis of a Ground-Level Trellising Tool for Greenhouse Tomato Cultivation
## 2 Materials and Methods
### Methods of Analysis and Experimentation  
#### 2.4.1 Comparison of Trellising Times According to the Trellising Method  
This analysis evaluates and compares the time required by a farmer to tutor a row three times. In this row, there are 15 plants (Figure 8a) and 44 removed stems, which means that there are 44 hangers (Figure 8b) when using conventional approaches versus using the tool specifically designed for this task. The main objective of this experiment is to determine the efficiency of the new tool in terms of time reduction and improved ergonomics of the process, providing objective data to assess its implementation in the agricultural sector. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 29.0.2. Significant differences among trellising methods were determined by analysis of variance (ANOVA). [PERSON]'s multiple range test was used to evaluate the processing time and trellising methods, while the least significant difference (LSD) test at \(p\leq 0.05\) was used. 4.2 Comparison of Trellising Costs During an Agricultural Campaign According to the Trellising Method  
The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the cost associated with trellising on one hectare of greenhouse tomato crops in the province of Almeria during an agricultural campaign while considering different trellising systems. The study focused on evaluating the costs of trellising in one hectare of greenhouse with a total of 15,600 plants, each of which had three stems per plant, with each of these stems supported by a hanger. In total, 46,500 hangers were mounted over one hectare. Additionally, the number of times that a tomato had to be removed during the campaign had be taken into account; specifically, during the production period (October-April), this was performed once every two weeks. Thus, from the frequency of trellising per year (\(FT\)), the trellising time of a hanger using the method (\(TT\)), the cost per hour of the worker (\(CW\)), and the maintenance cost (\(MC\)), the cost of trellising could be obtained for a tomato farmer in one hectare per campaign (\(CT\)). \[CT\left(EUR\right)=FT\cdot TT\cdot CW+MC \tag{7}\]  
This approach allows an accurate assessment of the economic impact of trellising on greenhouse tomato production, providing key information to optimize the profitability of agricultural activity. Figure 8: Tomato cultivation system: (**a**) planting distribution of a row (meter); (**b**) stems supported on hangers. 2.4.3. Analysis and Comparison of Occupational Risks According to the Trellising Method  
The National Institute of Health and Safety at Work (INSST) occupational risk assessment method [29] was applied to analyze the risk of workers falling while trellising. The method is based on identifying the magnitude of risks that cannot be avoided in order to establish the necessary preventive measures. Figure 9 presents the main phases of its application [29]. This study focuses only on risk detection and comparison between trellising methods, without implementing the last phase of control. The stages carried out for the evaluation of the risk of falling with the INSST method are the following [29]:  
1. Identification of the tasks to be assessed: the agricultural work to be analyzed is trellising in greenhouse tomato cultivation and it is carried out using five different methods (using a manual ladder, manual scaffolding, motorized scaffolding, stilts, and the newly designed tool). 2. Collection of information on site: Two Almeria-type greenhouses were selected (Table 1). The information was gathered by a professional qualified in occupational risk prevention through observation and interviews. In each greenhouse, the evaluation focused on a single worker performing the trellising tasks using the respective methods. 3. Hazard identification: In this study, the only hazard that had to be assessed was the falling of workers at different levels. This is considered a major risk in this work. 4.