Sugar Snap Pea Harvest & Packing

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Sugar Snap Peas, which are also known as snap peas, are harvested for the fresh market. Sugar Snap Peas are sweet and crisp, and you can eat the entire pod or remove the individual peas and eat them individually. Continue reading to see the Sugar Snap Pea harvest and packing processes. This specific example is from one of Spinaca Farms’ growing areas in Hollister, California.

Table of Contents

How do Peas Grow?

As Sugar Snap Peas grow on the plant, they do not all grow at the same time. As you can see in the picture below, there are mature and ready for harvest peas on the same plant as young, growing peas.

Sugar Snap Peas - Growing

To give another example, you can see the flowers blossoming on the plant at the same time as mature Sugar Snap Peas that are ready for harvest.

Sugar Snap Pea - Flower Blossom

As Sugar Snap Peas continually grow and mature, it is up to the harvesters to make sure they harvest mature peas, while leaving the immature peas on the plant.

Sugar Snap Pea Harvest

All of the peas are hand harvested. The main criteria the harvesters look for is that the peas are firm, in good condition and are of proper size. The harvesters also need to make sure the calyx portion of the plant is removed from the harvested product. The calyx is the upper portion of the Sugar Snap Pea that connects the pea to the plant.

Sugar Snap Peas - With Calyx Attached
Sugar Snap Pea - With Calyx Removed

As the peas are being harvested, they are put into 5 gallon buckets as the workers proceed down the rows to continue harvesting.

Sugar Snap Pea Harvest
Sugar Snap Pea Harvest - Harvest Crew
Sugar Snap Pea Harvest

How pea harvesters are paid?

At this operation, they are working piece rate. That means that each harvester is getting paid based on the amount they harvest per day. As a result, the harvesters move along at their own pace and work until they are satisfied for the day.

Sugar Snap Pea Packing

Once the harvesters fill their 5 gallon bucket, they bring it to the quality control station. The amount harvested is poured into boxes and weighed. The quality control worker reviews the harvest to ensure the harvested product meets the quality requirements and tallies the amount harvested per worker.

Sugar Snap Pea Packing - Dumping into Boxes
Sugar Snap Pea Packing - Packing Boxes
Sugar Snap Pea Packing - Weighing Packed Boxes

Sugar Snap Pea Cooling

Once a pallet full of Sugar Snap Peas has been harvested, the pallet is transferred to the nearby reefer (refrigerated cooler). The reefer is located on the outskirts of the field and is there to cool the Sugar Snap Peas. The pallets stay in the reefer until a truck comes to bring the product to the cooler. From there, it is shipped to the final consumer.

Sugar Snap Pea Harvest - Reefer

Pea Harvest & Packing Video

To get a glimpse of the pea harvest and packing process in action, check out the video below.

Food Safety Considerations

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

  • Sanitation of the harvesting buckets and bins – Cleaning and sanitizing of the buckets needs to occur on a regular and frequent basis.
  • 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.

There are many more items to be taken into consideration, but this is just a brief list to get you thinking about it!

Postharvest Considerations

The most important postharvest consideration is temperature control and maintaining the temperature as close to 0°C/32°F as possible. The more they can maintain that temperature range, the longer the shelf-life of the peas. This can be clearly seen in the example provided as they are one of the few operations I have seen with a refrigerated cooler in the field. 

Featured Grower Information

I would like to thank Spinaca Farms for the tour and for allowing the gathered content to be shared. Spinaca Farms is located in the Morgan Hill, California area and grows fresh vegetables, and has now started creating different vegetable powders out of product that would be “waste.”

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