Case study

Experiences and issues in growing and harvesting lavender

Image:

Objective:

For the most part, growing lavender in Croatia comes down to small producers who make it an extra household income. Collecting lavender is the most important part of production because it provides raw material for later processing. Manual harvesting of lavender generate its yield as only the top part of the plant with the highest concentration of essential oil is harvested. The problem with mechanical harvesting is that the machine is not so precise and cannot be adjusted to collect only the top parts of the plant.

Start/end date:

Context:

Although it is well known that manual harvesting of lavender generate higher yields, it is practically impossible to do this for small producers. The problem is that after the lavender blooms, there is a short time frame in which it must be harvested. Only a month after the beginning of flowering, its yield begins to decline, thus losing the value of the raw material. Due to the inability of manual harvesting which is a hard-laboring task and due to the lack of manpower, growers are forced to turn to machine harvesting of lavender.

Contacts:

Mihael Srdoč, m.balota1111@gmail.com