Almond machine is put through its paces

A NEW machine for collecting almonds, the first of its kind in the Balearics, was demonstrated yesterday at the Son Serra farm on the outskirts of Palma.
It is five times faster than the old tractors, as it can shake up to five trees a minute, that is about 300 an hour and 3'000 a day.
At the presentation, Eduardo Cerdá, manager of the almond and carob producers association, said that production this year will be around 4'000 tons, and farmers will receive between 3.5 and 3.7 euros a kilo for shelled almonds.
Agriculture minister Margalida Moner said that this year's crop would not be bigger than last year, “although prospects aren't bad.”