Kale Harvest & Packing

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Kale is quite the leafy green! Some people love it, and have their favorite way to prepare it, while others have trouble eating it. Kale is one of the bitter vegetables that causes supertasters to cringe when they eat it! Luckily for growers, grocery stores and chefs alike, there is still a great market for these vegetables. And believe it or not, there are multiple different kale cultivars that are grown.

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To create this post, I was able to get footage of two different kale harvesting crews at Babé Farms in Santa Maria, California, one of which includes a harvesting rig for packing, and the other that uses reusable plastic containers (RPCs) in the field.

How is Kale Grown

When kale grows on the plant, there are multiple leaves growing, but they do not all grow at the same pace. As you can see in the picture below, when the kale plants are harvested, not all of the leaves are harvested at the same time. 

Photo of a Kale Harvest - Harvest Crew, Harvesting Rig & Trailerharvesting crew.

One of the distinct things about kale is that harvesters have to go through the field multiple times to harvest all of the leaves from the plants, similar to strawberries and asparagus. As you can see in the picture below, multiple leaves have been removed from the plant, but there are still leaves that are maturing prior to harvest.

Black Tuscan (Lacinato) Kale

How is Kale Harvested

As the entire plant is not ready for harvest at the same time, it needs to be hand harvested. While harvesting kale, the workers go through the rows looking for mature leaves and remove them. Each piece of kale is then hand harvested. Once the workers gather approximately eight leaves, they tie them into bunches. Each worker has zip ties held in cases around their waist to aid in the ease of use, and to also keep the zip ties from coming in contact with any potential source of contamination. The only time a knife is used during the kale harvest is when the workers are evening out the kale pieces in the bunches.

Depending on the harvesting operation, the harvesters then throw the bunched kale onto the packing table of the harvesting rig and continue harvesting, or the bunches go into reusable plastic containers (RPCs) in the field, where they are then packed into boxes.

Kale Harvest
Kale Harvest
Kale Harvest

How is Kale Packed

The packers cut off the bottoms of the bunches to make the bunches uniform in length. Once there are enough bunches, they spritz the inside of the packed box with sanitized water and close the box. The packed boxes are then transported via conveyor over to the adjacent trailer. Once the trailer has been filled, it is taken to the nearby cooler until shipment.

Kale Packing
Kale Packing
Kale Packing - Trailer Full of Packed Kale

Kale Harvest & Packing Videos

The videos below provide the full behind the scenes view of these processes.

This video shows the kale harvesting and packing process, with the aid of a harvesting machine.

This video shows the kale harvesting and packing process, where there is no machinery used.

Food Safety Considerations

For a kale harvesting and packing operation, some of the main food safety concerns are:

  • Glove policy – Since gloves are required, there needs to be a glove policy enforced. This means that the gloves are controlled by the company, and that they are either disposable or able to be washed, and are changed out appropriately. If the gloves are washed, the company needs to control the cleaning of the gloves.
  • Cleaning and Sanitation of the harvesting knives – Cleaning and sanitizing of the knives needs to occur on a regular and frequent basis. In addition to this being on a schedule and controlled by the company, there also needs to be a knife dip to store the knives in while the workers are on break.
  • Cleaning and Sanitation of the conveyor line – Every piece of harvested product touches the conveyor line between being harvested and packed, so it needs to be cleaned and sanitized to prevent any potential cross-contamination issues to the product.

There are many more items to be taken into consideration, but this is just a brief list to get you thinking about it! Also, kale is one of the products that is included in the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (LGMA), where there are specific food safety rules included to help regulate the safety of leafy greens in the market.

Postharvest Considerations

The most important postharvest factor is to quickly cool the kale near 0°C/32°F and to maintain that temperature throughout the cold chain. This is similar for all leafy greens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are any tools used to harvest kale?

No harvesting tools are needed during the actual harvesting of kale. The workers just essentially rip the mature leaves off of the plant and then will use a knife if they need to even out the harvested bunches at the end.

How many times are kale plants harvested per season?

For the organic kale production, the plants can be harvested 3-5 times per season. While, conventional kale production typically results in additional passes through the field.

What type of kale is featured here?

In the harvesting footage shared, you will see what is commonly referred to as Black Tuscan or Lacinato kale. At this specific ranch, they were growing Black Tuscan (Lacinato) Kale (on the left), and Green Kale (on the right).

Black Tuscan (Lacinato) Kale
Green Kale

What determines which type of harvesting and packing method is used?

It is based on the grower, harvest amount, and the resources available.

Featured Grower Information

I would like to thank Babé Farms for the tour and for allowing the footage to be shared. Babé Farms is located in Santa Maria, California, and specializes in growing “baby” vegetables. You can also see more of their products and growing operations, featured here: radishes, machine harvesting lettuce, creating salad mix, carrots, Blonde Frisée, and baby romaine.    

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