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CapitalPress.com
April 21, 2017
People & Places
Making harvests more efficient
J.J. Dagorret invents
an easy-to-use
mobile platform for
tree fruit industry
Western
Innovator
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
MOSES LAKE, Wash. —
J.J. Dagorret doesn’t make
detailed drawings. When he
gets an idea he mulls it over
in his mind.
“I get irritable. I need my
concentration. I can be like a
mad scientist,” he says.
When he’s ready, he tells
his workers what he needs.
What to cut. What to weld.
What goes here. What goes
there. How long that needs to
be. No, it needs to go like that.
“It’s all wrapped up in my
head and I can see it. It takes
me eight weeks to build a
prototype. I like the nuts and
bolts side of things,” he says.
Dagorret, 41, is an innova-
tor who is beginning to make
his mark on the tree fruit in-
dustry. His self-propelled har-
vest assist platform, the Ban-
dit Xpress, which he designed
in 2012, has become a hot
item for picking and thinning
apples and pruning and train-
ing trees.
Automated Ag Systems,
Dagorret’s Moses Lake com-
pany, has built and sold about
450 Bandit Xpress platforms
from 2013 through 2016.
Most of them went to
growers in Washington, but
others also went to Oregon,
California, New York, Michi-
gan, New Zealand, Australia,
South America and South Af-
rica.
About 70 of the 275 on
order this year have already
been built, and production ca-
pacity will double next year
when the company gains full
use of a 60,000-square-foot
facility it bought in January.
Dagorret says he needs
the space to keep up with de-
mand.
“We have guys scream-
ing for machines. It’s hard to
grow with demand,” he said.
He sees no end in sight to
the growth the next several
years as more orchardists see
that a $63,000 Bandit Xpress
is 35 percent more efficient,
and safer, than picking apples
with ladders, he said.
That’s a savings as labor
grows more scarce and expen-
sive. Simplicity, quality and
affordability are what growers
want, Dagorret said.
How it works
Up to four pickers are teth-
ered to the Bandit Xpress plat-
form, two fore and two aft, on
areas that are adjustable in
height and width. They pick
Calendar
Occupation: Owner,
Automated Ag Systems LLC,
Moses Lake, Wash.
Age: 41
Born: Chico, Calif., raised in
Corning.
Family: Wife, Kelly, com-
pany office manager; son,
J.P., 18, also works in the
company.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Kelly and J.J. Dagorret, owners of Automated Ag Systems in Moses Lake, Wash., in front of the
assembly line for Bandit Xpress harvest-assist platforms.
into conventional bags and
gently dump apples from bags
into a bin that is raised to the
platform with a hydraulic
scissor lift. Bins are set out
by tractors in advance and re-
moved when full.
The 22-foot long, 7-foot
wide self-propelled platform
is powered by a 24-horsepow-
er Honda engine that can go
eight hours on 3.5 to 4 gallons
of gas.
Dagorret soon will offer
the Bandit Xpress .5 that will
be four feet shorter and a foot
narrower to better fit 10-foot-
wide alleys in V-trellis or-
chard systems.
Companies ordering
Sales are growing mainly
among larger tree fruit com-
panies. Stemilt Ag Services in
Wenatchee has bought 28 and
has 37 more on order over the
next few years, Dagorret said.
This year, the company will
try the Bandit Scout, designed
for ground picking ahead of
the Xpress. Stemilt will also
try the air-cushioned Bin Ban-
dit, which can move 400 to
500 apple-filled bins per day
— two to four times the num-
ber a tractor can move, and
more gently.
Yakima grower Bruce
Allen has 14 Bandit Xpress
platforms, Washington Fruit
and Produce has six or seven,
Zirkle Fruit has six, Kershaw
Fruit will run 12 this year,
Green Acre Farms has eight
and McDougall & Sons has
four, Dagorret said.
“I think we’re changing
the way things are done in the
industry. I get calls during and
before harvest asking were to
go to see them and work on
them,” he said.
Of the 275 on order for this
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capitalpress.com.
Through Sunday, April 30
Wooden Shoe Tulip Fest 9 a.m.-
6 p.m. Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm,
33814 S. Meridian Road, Wood-
burn, Ore. Stroll through 40 acres
of stunning beauty, experience ex-
pansive views of vineyards, distant
mountains and a few mud puddles.
Fresh flowers, food and fun. Cost:
$5 per person or $20 per car. Web-
site: www.woodenshoe.com
Friday-Saturday
April 21-22
Second Annual Horsedrawn
Vehicle and Equipment Auction, 10
a.m.-5 p.m. Yamhill County Fair-
grounds, 2070 NE Lafayette Ave.,
McMinnville, Ore. Preview starts at
8 a.m. both days. Auction benefits
the Youth Educational Scholarship
Foundation. www.pacificoverland-
expo.com
Saturday, April 22
J.J. Dagorret
Local Meat Marketing and
USDA Processing Workshops. 10
a.m.-2 p.m. Carnation Farms, Car-
nation, Wash. Workshops will focus
on market demand for local meats,
economics and processing options
to help determine what is best for
your livestock enterprise. Contact:
Patrice Barrentine at King County
Agriculture Program at Patrice.
Barrentine@kingcounty.gov
or
(206) 477-1556. Cost: Free. Web-
site: https://goo.gl/forms/JENmH-
1PAWkQfZDaH2
Map and Compass Workshop.
9 a.m.-4 p.m. University of Idaho
Extension Office in Kootenai Coun-
ty, 1808 North Third St., Coeur
d’Alene, Idaho. The program fea-
tures 2-3 hours indoors interpreting
various natural resource maps, fol-
lowed by field activities using mag-
netic compasses. Those wishing to
participate should pre-register at
the University of Idaho Extension
office in Kootenai County. Cost:
$10. Website: www.uidaho.edu/ex-
tension/forestry/calendar
Saturday-Tuesday
April 22-25
California FFA State Conven-
tion. Fresno Convention & Enter-
tainment Center, 700 M St., Fresno,
Calif. Website: www.calaged.org
Monday, April 24
Passing it On: Farm and Ranch
Succession Workshop. 5:30-8:30
p.m. OSU Extension Auditorium,
2050 NE Lafayette Ave., McMinn-
ville, Ore. Two-thirds of Oregon’s
agricultural land will be changing
hands in the next 20 years, but the
vast majority of farmers and ranch-
ers don’t have succession plans.
Want to hear about the trends in
farm/ranch succession, access to
land, and land use? Want to learn
the steps for preparing a succes-
sion plan? Want to hear the stories
of local farmers who have gone
through the process? Learn about
recent research by OSU, PSU and
Rogue Farm Corps on agricultural
land transition. Hear from attor-
year, 180 are for Washington
customers, and the next larg-
est amount is for California ,
where Dagorret believes sales
are about to take off.
What Stemilt says
Robin Graham, assistant
general manager of Stemilt
Ag Services, said he’s tried
other harvest-assist machines
but likes the Bandit Xpress for
its sturdiness, dependability
and simplicity.
“We don’t need complicat-
ed machines with electronic
eyes, conveyor belts and bin
fillers, and the Bandit is safer
and more ergonomic than lad-
ders,” he said.
Pickers even do a better job
color-picking apples at night
with the Bandit’s LED lights
because they see color bet-
ter than in daylight, Graham
said. With multiple shifts,
Stemilt runs the machines 24
hours a day, and pickers enjoy
their stereo systems, he said.
Stemilt gets 35 percent more
efficiency, he said.
The platform works bet-
ter for tree pruning in the
snow than ladders, and
Stemilt wants to go ladder-
less as much as possible, he
said.
“I really think highly of
J.J. From a service perspec-
tive, he’s totally invested in
the user. I don’t know how he
does it but he fields calls from
our field guys and mechanics,
brings a lot of knowledge and
is down to earth,” Graham
said.
Dagorret has also said he
is interested in teaming up
with robotic apple picker de-
velopers. A robot could go on
the Xpress without building a
whole new machine, he said.
In 2014, the Bandit Xpress
was a Top 10 innovation dis-
played at the World Ag Expo
in Tulare, Calif. This year, the
company’s Melon Wrangler,
a harvest assist machine for
melons and other vine-grown
produce, was chosen.
He sells four different
styles of Bin Bandits, two for
moving apple bins, one for
citrus and one for raisins and
kiwi.
Wife is right hand
Dagorret’s wife, Kelly,
40, is the office manager and
bookkeeper and does parts
invoicing. They met in school
in the small town of Corning,
Calif., when she was in eighth
grade and he was in ninth.
“I thought he was a pretty
cool guy. He is pretty funny
and his brain is always go-
ing,” she said. “You know his
brain is going when he’s sit-
ting on the couch chewing his
fingernails.”
The respect is mutual.
“She’s a very patient per-
son. That’s what’s made this
work. When I was young, I
was wild and she would grin
and bear it. I’m a lucky guy,”
he said. “We have our little
squabbles and stuff but we go
home tired and know we did
it for ourselves and not some-
one else. There’s some value
in that.”
The Dagorret family is
French Basque. His father
raised sheep but when that
market declined in the late
1980s he turned to grow-
ing and contract harvesting
prunes and pistachios.
“I dodged the sheep thing
and got into prune harvest-
ing,” said Dagorret. “I loved
it. I loved building shakers
and using them.”
In high school, Dagorret
ney Joe Hobson about the steps
to passing your legacy to the next
generation. Learn from a landown-
er panel who has been through the
process. And hear about how con-
servation easements can be a tool
to help you plan for succession and
leave a legacy. RSVP to Heather
Stoven: Heather.Stoven@oregon-
state.edu, 503-434-8910.
Oregon Blueberry Commis-
sion. Noon. Chemeketa Events at
Winema, 4001 Winema Place NE,
Salem, Ore. A public hearing will be
held on the commission’s proposed
budget for the next fiscal year. For
information, call 503-364-2944.
Thursday, April 27
Washington Association of
Wheat Growers Wheat College.
8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Three Rivers Con-
vention Center, 7016 W. Grandridge
Blvd., Kennewick, Wash. Topics
will include controlling chemical
drift, herbicide resistance trends in
the region and strategies for vari-
ety selection and disease control.
Pre-registration is appreciated.
Pesticide credits will be available.
Cost: Free.
Oregon Orchardgrass Seed
Producers Commission meeting.
7:30-11 a.m. Elmer’s restaurant,
2802 Santiam Highway SE, Albany,
Ore.
Ranch Succession Planning
Workshop. 6-8:30 p.m. Best West-
ern Sunridge, 1 Sunridge Lane,
Baker City, Ore. Come join us for
a timely event on an important top-
ic. Learn about recent research by
OSU, PSU and Rogue Farm Corps
on agricultural land transition. Hear
Growing Forest Mushrooms
workshop. 6:15-8:45 p.m. The
workshop will cover techniques
for growing a variety of edible for-
est mushrooms, including oyster
and shitake mushrooms. Kootenai
County Fairgrounds, Building 2,
4056 N. Government Way, Coeur
d’Alene, Idaho. Cost: $15 by April
21. Website: http://www.uidaho.
edu/extension/forestry.
Friday, April 28
Forest Edibles workshop. 1-5
p.m. This workshop will cover the
range of edible non-timber products
that can be harvested from forests.
Kootenai County Fairgrounds,
Building 2, 4056 N. Government
Way, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Cost:
$15 by April 21. Website: http://
www.uidaho.edu/extension/forestry.
Saturday-Sunday
April 29-30
Oregon Ag Fest. 8:30 a.m.-5
p.m. Oregon State Fairgrounds,
2330 17th St. NE, Salem, Ore. Ag
Capital Press Managers
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EO Media Group
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POSTMASTER: send address changes to
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Work History: Worked for
Orchard Carriers, a produce
bin carrier manufacturer in
Corning, during and after
high school; bought the
company in 2000; sold the
company in 2005; started
Automated Ag Systems in
Tampa, Fla., 2007; moved
the company to Moses Lake,
Wash., in 2011.
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N. California
Tim Hearden .................... 530-605-3072
E Idaho
John O’Connell ................. 208-421-4347
Idaho
Carol Ryan Dumas .......... 208-860-3898
began working for Orchard
Carriers, a small Corning
company that makes produce
bin carriers.
He bought the business in
2000 and a couple years later
built one of the first dried-on-
the-vine raisin harvesters.
A friend even asked him to
build crates for pachyderms.
“I didn’t know what a
pachyderm was, so I said,
‘Sure,’” he said.
He built two, 10-by-20-
foot steel crates for trans-
porting elephants that are still
used by a leading elephant
mover today.
Business was increasing
for Orchard Carriers in 2005,
but most of it was in the San
Joaquin Valley. The Dag-
orrets sold to a company in
the Modesto area and moved
to Florida to join a venture
building machines for citrus
fruit. That failed, as did Da-
gorret’s solo efforts selling
a bell pepper and cucumber
harvester he built.
“I carried it all over the
damn country down there
and just couldn’t get it to go,
so I went back to my roots
and developed a high-densi-
ty bin carrier for apples and
marketed it in New York,”
he said.
That led to moving to
Washington in 2011 to be
in the country’s largest ap-
ple-production region.
20 Northwest Locations
from La Grande attorney DeLon
Lee about the steps to passing your
legacy to the next generation. Learn
from a landowner panel who has
been through the process. And hear
from Blue Mountain Conservancy
about how working lands conserva-
tion easements can be a tool to help
you plan for succession and leave a
legacy. This event is sponsored by
the Baker County Livestock Associ-
ation as their April meeting. Event
supporters are Rogue Farm Corps
and the Baker Soil and Water Con-
servation District. Cost: Free. Web-
site:
https://www.facebook.com/
events/1965305573690320/
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Mike Forrester
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Education: Graduate of
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1996.
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Country activities, a petting zoo,
pony rides, toy tractor races, a
craft and garden show and family
entertainment make for a fun and
informative day. A ranch breakfast
is served on Saturday from 8:30 to
10:30 a.m. Cost is $6. Sunday Ag
Fest hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Ag
Fest cost: Free for 12 and under.
$9 for 13 and older. Free parking.
http://oragfest.com/
Monday, May 1
Soil and Water Conservation
Commission meeting. Noon-4:30
p.m., 304 SE Nye Ave., Pendleton,
Ore. Website: www.oregon.gov/
ODA/programs/naturalresources/
Pages/meetings.aspx
Tuesday, May 2
Fungicide presentation. 4-6
p.m. Bandon, Ore. Lindsay Well
of Ocean Spray will speak. A field
trip to a farm will be included. Cost:
Free
Thursday, May 4
Four-Part Farm/Ranch Succes-
sion Planning Workshop. 6-8:30
p.m. Canby High School, 721 SW
Fourth Ave., Canby, Ore. A free four-
part workshop on succession plan-
ning with one-hour personal counsel-
ing sessions for your family after each
workshop. Light dinner 6 to 6:30,
workshop 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Course 2
on May 4 is Goal Setting for You and
Your Family, Course 3 on May 18 is
Getting Organized, and Course 4 on
June 1 is Passing on Management
Roles. RSVP is required. Organized
by Clackamas Small Business De-
velopment Center and Rogue Farm
Corps. Cost: Free. http://bit.ly/2op
THqO
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Index
Idaho .....................................11
Markets ............................... 13
Opinion .................................. 6
Oregon ................................ 12
Washington ........................... 7
Correction
In a story on Page 11 of the
April 14 Orchards, Nuts and
Vines section, the haskap berry
and the name of Shinji Kawai
were misspelled.
The Capital Press regrets the
error.
Correction policy
Accuracy is important to Capital
Press staff and to our readers.
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