Harvest blueberries and haskap without a picking crew.
A battery-electric harvester for blueberry and haskap farms of 3 to 30 ha. Under 1,800 kg, one row, one operator. On 15 ha it should cost less than one season of hand picking.
R&D in progress. Field trials start June 2027 on our haskap farm. Pilot places are open.
- Mass, empty
- < 1,800 kg
- Ground pressure
- ≤ 0.6 kg/cm²
- Drawing
- Rear view
- The frame straddles the row.
- Shakers loosen the ripe berries.
- Berries fall onto catch plates.
- Conveyors carry them to the crates.
per kilo for hand picking in Poland, with housing, transport and supervision. That's 20–30% of the fresh blueberry price.
Picking is the biggest cost on a berry farm. Pickers are harder to find every year.
Minimum wages rise every year: €1,153 a month in Lithuania in 2026. Polish growers now recruit pickers from Colombia, the Philippines and India, as fewer come from Ukraine.
Today's machines don't fit a family farm. Towed harvesters bruise fruit and tie up a tractor. Self-propelled diesels weigh 4.9 to 7 tonnes. The only fresh-grade electric machine costs €350,000–400,000.
Sources: sadyogrody.pl (2025 picker rates), jagodnik.pl (2026 prices), FreshPlaza, manufacturer brochures.
What we're building
Targets for the first production machine. Pilot growers see the test data first.
| Target | Why it matters | |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | Under 1,800 kg | Works on soft ground after rain without rutting. |
| Power | Battery-electric, swappable packs | A full day with a charger at the field edge. No fumes, no hydraulic oil above the fruit. |
| Fruit quality | 85% or more fresh-grade | US trials with soft catching surfaces reached 85–93%. Our 2027 trials will verify it with independent quality checks. |
| Crew | 1 person | Drives with steering assist and swaps crates. |
| Transport width | 2.55 m or less | Moves between fields on a standard trailer. |
| Plantation | Rows about 3 m apart, bushes up to 2.2 m | Different rows? Tell us. The frame is sized with pilot growers. |
| Autonomy | Optional upgrade | Row-following can be added later. Not needed to run the machine. |
Four ways to use it
One harvesting head on different carriers: for a 4 ha farm with a tractor or a 25 ha farm without one.
| Option | For | Tractor | Crew | Target price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvest-assist cart | 1–10 ha. Two people with handheld shakers over a catching cart. | No | 2 | ~€24,000 |
| Towed e-implement | Farms with a 40 hp+ tractor. Electric head powered from the PTO. | Yes | 2 | ~€39,000 |
| Self-propelled | 10–30 ha, no tractor needed. | No | 1 | from €52,000 |
| Harvesting service | Any size. We bring machine and operator, you pay per hectare. | No | Ours | €450/ha per pass |
Target prices excl. VAT, before subsidy. The first ten pilot growers get 15% off.
Harvesting 1 ha of blueberries for one season
Assuming 7 t/ha and 3 passes.
Sources: sadyogrody.pl, jagodnik.pl, Eurostat, ŽŪDC. Machine and service costs from our cost model: 8-year depreciation, crew and maintenance.
What if some fruit is damaged?
Damaged fruit goes to processing at a lower price. What the service still saves:
| To processing | Saving vs hand picking |
|---|---|
| 0% | 80% |
| 10% | 65% |
| 20% | 50% |
| 35% | 28% |
Even with a third downgraded, the grower is well ahead. The saving disappears only at 54%. Our 2027 trials measure this first.
One machine, May to September
Haskap opens the season, blueberries carry it, currants and aronia fill the gaps.
From R&D to your field
Already in place
- 2 ha haskap test plantation and a tractor
- Business plan with market data for the EU, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia
- Cost model for seven machine configurations
- Patent review and design concept
- Grower survey in English, Lithuanian and Polish
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Oct 2026 – Mar 2027nowDesign, cost model and on-farm measurements with growers in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
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June 2027First field trials on our haskap plantation: shakers, catch system, fruit quality.
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July – Aug 2027Harvesting head on blueberries at host farms, with independent quality checks.
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2028First pilot machines on growers' farms and first service runs.
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2029Series production and CE marking, which unlocks investment subsidy.
Ten pilot places for growers
Blueberry, haskap, currant or aronia growers in Lithuania, Latvia or Poland.
You get
- 15% off any model
- Free trial runs on your rows
- Test results and demos first
- A say in the design: row width, crops, power source
We ask
- 45 minutes about your last harvest: costs, rows, problems.
- Optionally, a walk along your rows to measure spacing and headlands.
- No payment, no obligation.
I grow 2 ha of haskap in Lithuania and work as a controls and embedded-systems engineer. The harvest problem isn't theory for me.
Every idea is tested on my field first. If it fails on my rows, it won't reach yours.
Vladislav Budiak, founder · LinkedIn
The team is growing: mechanical engineering, agronomy, grower relations in Poland. Get in touch.
Investors and research partners: pre-seed round in 2027. Business plan, market study and cost model available under NDA.
Questions growers ask
Can I buy a machine now?
Not yet. Field trials in 2027, pilot machines in 2028, series production after CE marking. You can reserve a pilot place now.
Will it fit my plantation?
We design for rows about 3 m apart, 3 m headlands and bushes up to 2.2 m. Different? Tell us in the pilot conversation.
Can I get a subsidy?
In Lithuania, farms get back 50% of the price (70% for young farmers) under the CAP investment measure, once the machine is CE-marked and in series production.
Does it work on currants and aronia?
Yes. Those crops go to processing and are already machine-harvested. Our service machines will work them to fill the season.
Does joining the pilot cost anything?
No. The conversation is free with no obligation. A later machine deposit is fully refundable until you sign a binding order.