The Record-Breaking Harvest – Millions of Tons of Fruits and Vegetables Collected This Way

In the midst of modern life, many of you are probably used to walking into a supermarket, picking up a few kilograms of fruit, a bunch of green vegetables or a bag of dried nuts and then continuing your busy routine. But behind these seemingly familiar products lies a colossal journey. A place where millions of tons of agricultural products are harvested using technology, techniques and the enduring strength of people. In today's video, I want to invite you to look back at that harvesting journey. The annual production of radish reaches around 7 million tons, accounting for approximately 2% of the world's total vegetable production. For harvesting, workers bend over each row, manually pulling the radishes out of the ground. The freshly pulled roots are gathered, tied into bunches and stacked right on the planting beds. When the quantity is large enough, they bring plastic crates to collect all of these bunches. In parallel, many farms have implemented harvesting machines to increase the working speed. As the machine moves along the row, the chain and gear system at the front continuously rotates, pulling the radishes out of the soil in an instant. Immediately after, the radishes are neatly gathered into bunches and transferred to the farmers standing behind to inspect and sort them. After leaving the field, the bunches of radishes are placed on trucks and transferred directly to the nearby packaging area. Our next stop is Japan, where people preserve apples under snow. When the season arrives, workers gently pick each apple from the tree and place them into large storage crates. On each crate, they cover it with a wooden board and use wooden slats to tightly seal the gaps, aiming to prevent melted snow water from seeping in and spoiling the apples during the preservation process. Afterward, people use shovels to dig snow into layers as thick as 50 centimetres and cover the apple storage area, creating a natural cold storage. The unique temperature of the snow makes the apples sweeter due to the natural crystallisation process in the flesh of the fruit. Thanks to this unique preservation method, apples can maintain quality for half a year without the need of an artificial cooling system. Besides apples, bananas are also a fruit that many people love. The Cavendish is the most popular type of banana, accounting for nearly 50% of the global output, with an estimated annual production of 50 million tonnes. Bananas are usually harvested while still green so that they don't spoil during long transportation. First, a soft sack or nylon bag is wrapped around the banana bunch to prevent the bananas from falling off during harvest. When everything is ready, the workers sharp machetes to cut down the entire bunch. Next, they support the bunch and firmly carry it on their shoulder. This is tough work because each bunch can weigh up to 65 pounds and the workers have to move continuously between the banana rows. The freshly harvested banana bunches are immediately transferred to a cable car system running along the plantation. From here, the cable car transports them straight to the nearby packing facility, which helps to reduce labour and shorten the harvest time. Unlike fruits, onions can be harvested by machine. This is an onion harvester designed for small and medium-sized farms. A digging blade, pulled by a tractor, digs and lifts the layer of soil containing the onion bulbs out of the ground. The onion bulbs, along with the soil, are conveyed onto a vibrating rod conveyor. The system's task is to shake off excess oil and other impurities from the onion bulbs. The pre-cleaned onion bulbs continue to move along the conveyor. They are then gently poured onto the ground in a neat row to dry naturally under the sun. After that, farmers use another machine to gather the dried onions from the field, loading them fully into storage containers. Our next location is the Lotus Pond in Ibaraki, Japan. This prefecture currently leads the country in lotus root production, with an annual output of just over 29,000 tonnes. Harvesting is typically done on sunny days, as the mud layer is easier to dry then, making digging much more convenient. When the water in the pond has been drained, the farmers wade into the soft mud layer to search for each lotus root hidden deep beneath the surface. They can use their bare hands to trace the stem or use tools like shovels or spray nozzles to stir the mud, helping to reveal the long, white segments of the lotus root. After being brought ashore, the lotus roots are immediately transferred to the washing area to clean off the mud, restoring their clean appearance before being brought to market. Some agricultural products can be grown in greenhouses for year-round harvesting. These include bell peppers, and in such ideal conditions, they can grow very fast. Typically, they can be ready for harvest in just 8 to 12 weeks after flowering. When it's harvest day, farmers use their hands to clean the lotus root, to pick each ripe pepper and place it into a clean basket or plastic crate. They always try to avoid scratching or strong impacts to the fruit, as even a small mark can reduce its commercial value. Afterwards, the farmers transport the bell peppers back to the warehouse for cleaning before taking them to the market for sale. The next product is Japanese grapes. When the harvest season arrives, farmers start their work very early to take advantage of the cool morning air. This helps the grapes maintain their best freshness. Many people carefully wrap nylon bags around the grape bunches to ensure that they keep the best quality. They use scissors to cut each bunch of grapes quickly and precisely, avoiding crushing or dropping the fruit. For skilled workers, in just one morning, they can cut over a dozen bunches of grapes while still ensuring the perfect quality on every bunch. The prices of Japanese grapes are diverse, ranging from about $5.50 to $13 per pound for common varieties and up to $100 US for a single bunch of premium varieties like Ruby Roman or Shine Muscat. In Asia, there is another special agricultural product called the whitewater snowflake. This is an extremely popular vegetable in Taiwan, famous for its distinctive crisp texture and refreshing flavor. Farmers wade into the water and pull up the entire whitewater snowflake plant, including the long root section of four to five feet. Immediately after, they thoroughly shake the plant to remove adhering mud and soil. When the harvested plants are gently dropped back into the water, small whirlpools appear, creating a scene that is both unusual and characteristic of harvesting this type of vegetable. Afterwards, they tie them into small bundles and load them onto trucks, preparing for transportation to the processing facility. Although the process is mainly manual, the harvesting speed is still very impressive, reaching up to 50,000 bundles per day. Next, let's look at peanut harvesting machines in action. As the harvester moves slowly across the field, the plow blade behind continuously digs deep into the soil, pulling the entire plant along with the peanut pods buried deep underneath. Immediately after, the entire plant is laid on the ground in rows, with the roots and pods facing up to dry for around two to five days. When the peanuts have reached the standard dryness, the picker machine takes over the rest of the job. The entire vines and pods are fed into the machine, where a separation system quickly detaches the pods from the plants. The complete peanut pods are then poured directly into a container. Thanks to the combination of modern machinery and long-standing farming experience, global peanut production in 2025 is projected to reach a record high of around 51.27 million tonnes. The next product we're looking at is the Christmas tree. Typically, a fir tree takes six to ten years to reach its full height and desired shape. When the harvest time arrives, most trees are still cut by hand, usually with a saw, to ensure the trunk doesn't crack and retains its most beautiful shape. For medium or smaller trees, a tree spade or cutting machine may be used to save labour. Immediately after being cut, each fir tree is fed into a netting machine. This layer of mesh helps secure the branches, keeps the tree compact and limits damage during transportation. Our next location is a pumpkin field in the US. Here, pumpkins are grown on over 68,000 acres of land, yielding around 1.4 billion pounds of production in 2024. In many traditional farms, farmers still use specialised scissors to cut the stem of each pumpkin, then gently lift them to avoid scratching the thick skin. The work seems simple but requires good physical strength, as pumpkins can be very heavy, especially those grown for holiday display. Nowadays, many farms have switched to using harvesting machines to increase productivity. As the machine operates, the front section quickly lifts each pumpkin off the ground. The conveyor system immediately after receives and pre-cleans the pumpkins. The pumpkins are then transferred to the workers to check their quality. The ones that meet the standard compliant are neatly stacked into large wooden crates, ready for transportation to storage facilities or points of sale nationwide. Unlike pumpkins, pistachios are harvested using a tree shaking machine. This machine consists of two large mechanical arms which clamp onto the tree and gently shake it. These vibrations cause the nuts to fall onto a catching frame without damaging the tree trunk. The pistachios are then transferred to a conveyor belt for preliminary cleaning and then poured directly into storage bins. With the process taking only a few tenths of a second per tree, this method saves time and effort when compared to traditional methods. Another special agricultural product is seaweed. The global seaweed processing industry currently uses around 10 to 12 million tonnes of seaweed each year. Seaweed harvesting takes place in areas with a low tide, where the seaweed is washed ashore by waves and accumulate in thick layers on the beach. Harvesters carefully observe the beach, selecting fresh patches of seaweed. They use simple tools like scissors, knives or sickles to cut the seaweed into bunches. However, regulations stipulate that harvesters are only permitted to collect edible and abundant species, avoiding those with important ecological roles or those in the recovery phase. Our next destination are the pineapple fields of Indonesia. This is the world's largest pineapple producer, with an annual output of around 3.2 million tonnes. The clearest sign that a pineapple is ripe is when the base of the fruit turns orange-yellow. Farmers wear baskets on their backs, approach each plant and use a slight twisting motion to break the fruit away from the stem. The job is not easy though. Pineapples are heavy, their skin has sharp thorns and their leaves are long and pointed, meaning even a small mistake can lead to a scratch or cut. After a few hours, the basket becomes heavy, but the farmers still have to continue moving across the fields to harvest the pineapples at the peak of the season. The last product I want to talk about is dates. In 2023, the global production of this fruit reached around 9.66 million tonnes. To access the dates at the top of the tree, farmers use a safety rope tied around themselves and climb up. Once at the top, they gently check each bunch. The ripe bunches are picked, while those not yet fully ripe are left to be harvested in a subsequent round. After being cut, the date bunches are placed into hanging baskets and lowered to the ground, careful to avoid crushing. They are then loaded onto trucks for transport to the processing facility. Every year, American agriculture produces billions of tonnes of crops across millions of acres, with most of the process now almost fully mechanised. From fruit trees and vegetables to hay and industrial crops, modern machinery has helped cut out labour costs by up to 70% and still boost productivity by three to five times compared to traditional methods. Therefore, American farmers can finish their harvests faster, maintain more consistent crop quality and significantly reduce post-harvest losses. Watch until the end to see how these massive machines operate across the endless fields of the US. Our first stop is the citrus. In Florida, the state that produces more than 70% of all citrus in the US, the harvest season runs from November to June. To speed up the process, most farms use large mechanical harvesters that cover entire rows of trees. As the machine moves along, hundreds of flexible shaker rods sweep through the branches, causing the ripe oranges to drop onto a conveyor belt below and then straight into the storage bin. It only takes around 10 seconds per tree, and one machine that can harvest up to 200 trees an hour, that's nearly 50,000 oranges. After that, the oranges are transported directly to the processing plant, where they're washed, sorted by size and quality, and either packed for the fresh sale or sent to industrial juicing lines to make orange juice. However, not all citrus are harvested by machine. Some premium varieties, especially those sold fresh or used as gifts, are still picked entirely by hand. Workers climb ladders and use special clippers to cut each fruit individually, making sure the peel stays unblemished and the fruit keeps its perfect shape and flavour. Each worker can pick around 90 pounds of citrus per hour, depending on the tree size and density. Although this method is more labour intensive and costly, it ensures the highest quality for these premium citrus batches. Next up is grapes. In California, which produces more than 80% of all grapes in the US, the harvest season starts in mid-August and lasts through to early October. When it's time to pick, farmers use grape harvesters that stand around 13 feet tall and weigh around 22,000 pounds. As the machine moves along, it straddles the vineyard rows and uses hundreds of flexible shaker rods to gently detach ripe grapes from the clusters without damaging the vines. The grapes then fall into collection trays, are carried up a conveyor belt into a four-ton holding bin on top, and transported back to the collection point. For smaller grape varieties used in winemaking, farmers usually harvest at night when temperatures are around 64 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve freshness and prevent premature fermentation. One machine can harvest between 18,000 and 22,000 pounds of grapes per hour, the equivalent of what 40 manual workers could do. On average, the US produces around 13 billion pounds of grapes each year. Most of that goes into wine and juice production, while the rest is sold as fresh table grapes. California alone exports around 35% of its fresh grape output to markets such as Canada, Mexico and Alaska. In addition to mechanised harvesting, some vineyards still rely on handpicking for premium table grape varieties sold fresh or displayed in supermarkets. Workers walk along the vineyard rows using special shears to cut each cluster from the vine while carefully inspecting each bunch to remove any damaged or underripe grapes. Each worker can pick around 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of grapes per day, depending on the vineyard's size and density. This method helps preserve the fruit's shape and quality, but labour costs are high and productivity is much lower compared to machine harvesting. Leaving the heavy-laden vineyards behind, let's take a look at how Americans harvest sweet potatoes. In states like North Carolina, Louisiana and California, the largest sweet potato-producing regions in the country, the harvest season usually runs from September through November. When the leaves start turning yellow and the soil is dry enough for digging. Nowadays, American farmers rarely harvest by hand. Instead, they use automatic sweet potato diggers that lift the soil layer above the roots and gently push the potatoes up without damaging their skins. Right after that, a rubber conveyor system carries the potatoes across rotating rollers that remove leftover soil, roots and leaves. A modern harvester can dig up to four to six rows of sweet potatoes at once, with an average capacity of 15 to 20 tonnes per hour. Once collected into the rear storage bin, the sweet potatoes are transported directly to the processing area, where they're washed, dried and automatically sorted to remove any damaged or low-quality roots. Finally, the grated potatoes are packed and shipped to distribution centres or food processing plants. On average, the US produces around 3.2 billion pounds of sweet potatoes each year, with more than 60% coming from North Carolina. Most of the harvest is used in the packaged food industry or exported to markets in Canada, Europe and Japan. After sweet potatoes, we move on to a very different kind of plant, the water hyacinth. Although it's not a commercial crop, it's widely harvested across many southern states. For harvesting, farmers and environmental agencies use self-propelled water hyacinth harvesters equipped with front-mounted cutters and floating conveyors that gather the entire biomass. Each trip, the machine can collect up to 10 tonnes of hyacinth before transporting it to a processing facility. In Florida, the Clean Water 2025 program operates more than 120 harvesting machines every day, keeping waterways clear while efficiently utilising this massive source of biomass. Sweet corn is one of the most iconic crops in American agriculture. And today, it's harvested almost entirely by mechanisation. In major sweet corn-producing states like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida, farmers use sweet corn harvesters worth over $500,000. These machines move along the rows, cut the stalks, strip the ears and then transfer the corn onto a conveyor belt connected to a truck driving alongside. After that, the corn is transported directly to nearby processing plants, where it's sorted, husked or kernel-cut. Before being packaged just a few hours after harvest, ensuring its freshness, crunch and natural sweetness are perfectly preserved. According to the USDA's 2024 report, the total US sweet corn production reached around 5.24 billion pounds. Of that, around 1.49 billion pounds were sold directly at farmers' markets and supermarkets, while the majority, around 3.75 billion pounds, went to the food processing industry for canned corn, frozen products or ready-to-eat foods. However, some small farms in states like Illinois, Georgia and Pennsylvania still harvest sweet corn by hand. Especially premium or organic varieties sold at local farmers' markets. Each worker can pick around 2,000 to 2,500 ears of corn per day, depending on weather conditions and planting density. Though less efficient, this hand-harvesting method remains popular on family farms, where growers prioritise quality and the perfect condition of each ear of corn. Next comes sugar beets. The main raw material used to produce America's domestic sugar supply. More than half of sugar consumed in the US each year comes from this root crop. In northern states like Minnesota, North Dakota and Idaho, hundreds of thousands of acres are covered with sugar beet fields. When harvest season arrives, farms operate specialised harvesting machines that cut off all of the green tops, gently lift the beets from the soil, clean off the dirt and transfer them directly onto automated trucks. A modern harvester can process around 50,000 to 60,000 pounds of sugar beets per hour. During the six-week peak season, these machines run almost non-stop day and night to finish harvesting before the temperatures drop. Today, more than 95% of the sugar beet crop in the US is harvested entirely by machine. After harvest, the sugar beets are transported directly to nearby crushing and refining plants for cleaning. There, they're washed, sliced and heated to extract sucrose. The resulting sugar juice is then filtered, concentrated and refined into fine white sugar crystals before being dried, packaged and distributed to the market. On average, the US harvests more than 70 billion pounds of sugar beets each year, providing nearly 60% of the nation's domestically produced sugar. Continuing our journey, we head to the vast sugarcane fields of the southern US, where the crop is mainly grown in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Hawaii. Each year, the US harvests over 34 billion pounds of sugarcane, supplying much of the raw material for the nation's sugar industry. With an average price of around $0.02 to $0.023 per pound, the sugarcane industry generates billions of dollars in annual revenue, playing a vital role in the agricultural economy of the southern US. The harvest season typically begins in October and lasts until early January. Before the machines enter the fields, farmers often perform a light burn of the dry leaves on the sugarcane stalks to remove debris and make the harvesting process more efficient. Right after that, modern sugarcane harvesters moved into the fields, cutting the stalks close to the ground, chopping them into short segments and transferring them onto trucks for an automated conveyance system, completing a fast and precise harvesting process. From the fields, the fresh cane is transported to processing plants within a few hours to preserve its natural sugar content. Following the sugarcane season comes hay harvest, one of the most important crops in the US lifestyle industry. Hay is grown in nearly every state, but it's most concentrated in areas with vast grasslands, such as Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota and Montana. Each year, American farmers harvest around 200,000 pounds of hay a year. That's around 64 billion pounds of hay to support livestock production. The hay harvesting process in the US is almost entirely mechanized. When the grass reaches a height of around 18 to 24 inches, farmers begin cutting it with forage mowers or mower conditioners, which are equipped with high-speed rotating blades that cut close to the ground and gently crush the stems and windrow the hay into neat rows. After that, a forage harvester moves through the field, chopping the hay into small pieces and blowing it directly through a chute onto a truck or trailer, moving alongside, saving both time and labor. From there, all the hay is transported directly to the livestock farms to feed dairy cattle, beef cattle or horses. Each forage harvester can produce between 50,000 and 70,000 pounds per day, meeting the massive feed demands of large-scale farms. Potatoes are the next crop in today's video. The potato harvest in the US usually begins in late August and lasts through early October, depending on the climate zone. During this time, massive potato harvesters dig through the soil with sharp steel blades to separate the tubers from the roots and dirt, before lifting them onto a vibrating conveyor system. There, soil rocks and stems are filtered out while the potatoes are transferred into storage bins or directly loaded onto trucks moving alongside the field. Right after harvesting, the potatoes are transported directly to specialized storage facilities where the temperatures are maintained between 38 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent sprouting and keep them fresh for as long as possible. In the US, around 44 billion pounds of potatoes are harvested each year, making it one of the world's largest potato producers, just behind China and India. The average farm price is around 12 cents per pound, generating billions of dollars in annual revenue. If there's one crop harvested in the most unusual way in America, it's definitely the cranberry. Unlike corn or potatoes, which are gathered on dry fields, cranberries are harvested on water, creating one of the most stunning sights in North American agriculture. In states like Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington and New Jersey, farmers begin the cranberry harvest season from September through early November. The process starts by flooding the cranberry bogs with water, creating a layer that's about 18 inches deep that covers the entire field. Once the water reaches the right depth, egg beaters use spinning paddles to stir the water, knocking the ripe berries off their vines and causing them to float to the surface. After that, farmers use large circular nets or floating booms to corral the cranberries into tight clusters before pumping them out of the water with high-powered vacuums onto trucks. From there, the berries are taken to processing facilities where they're washed, sorted and chilled. The highest quality berries are then used to make juice, dried cranberries or cranberry sauce. Each year, the US harvests around 8.1 billion pounds of cranberries. That's nearly 810 million pounds. Wisconsin alone accounts for more than 60% of the total production, followed by Massachusetts. Leaving the cranberry bogs of the north, the journey continues to California, the pistachio capital of America. The harvest season usually begins in late August and lasts until mid-October. Across orchards stretching hundreds of acres, mechanical shakers rule to life. The machine's hydraulic arm grips the trunk firmly and shakes it for a few seconds, causing clusters of pistachios to drop into catching frames below. A mature tree can produce between 50 and 80 pounds of nuts each year, and within just a few days, the entire orchard is cleanly harvested. Immediately after harvest, trucks transport the pistachios to processing plants within 24 hours. There, the nuts go through several processing steps. They are dried at about 160 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent mould. Afterwards, they're sorted, roasted, salted and packaged before hitting store shelves or being exported around the globe. According to the American Pistachio Growers Association, the U.S. produces around 1.5 billion pounds of pistachios each year, generating over $5 billion in revenue, with more than 70% exported to Europe, China and India. And in today's harvest, we arrive at olives, a rich crop in Mediterranean flavor but thriving in California, especially in the Central Valley, San Joaquin, Sacramento and the coastal range. This region is the U.S. olive capital, producing over 95% of the nation's olives. The harvest season usually runs from September through November, depending on the intended use. In the past, olives were picked entirely by hand, one by one, in order to avoid bruising the fruit. However, today, large Californian farms have almost fully mechanized the process. In the field, trunk-shaking machines grip the base or branches and shake vigorously for a few seconds, causing the olives to fall onto catch mats below. In orchards planted in straight rows, farmers also use self-propelled harvesters, massive vehicles that straddle each row, lightly shake the tree and vacuum the fruit onto onboard storage compartments. Immediately after the harvest, the olives must be transported to the mill within 24 hours, as any delay can significantly reduce oil quality. There, the fruit is separated from leaves and crushed into a paste, before being spun in a centrifuge to extract the pure olive oil. Exploring the harvest seasons across the U.S. shows that every crop has its own story, from how it adapts to the land, to how farmers and machines work together to create bountiful harvests. 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