After six months as assistant vineyard manager at Clos des Costières, a well-known Gard estate specialising in stone fruit, Domitille Carton took over responsibility for the farm in November 2023. She has seen and piloted the arrival of electric pruning shears on the farm.
Domitille Carton has been passionate about fruit production ever since she studied to be an agricultural engineer, and is a young farm manager who is 200% committed to the orchard's performance. The athletic-looking thirty-something with steely blue eyes leads her pruning and harvesting teams, moving from one plot to the next with determination, as they work the 223 hectares of the Clos des Costières at Aubord in the Gard department. The farm produces 6,300 tonnes of peaches, nectarines and apricots, labelled as eco-responsible orchards and marketed by the Ille Fruit cooperative, based in Ille-sur-Têt in the Pyrénées-Orientales region.
We meet Domitille in July; part of the team is in the middle of a green pruning operation, removing the suckers, the vigorous wood that grows on the trunks and penalises future yields. "Chupons are linked to excess water and fertilisation. Initially, we're going to try to concentrate fertilisation on certain periods, reducing it after the stone has hardened," explains Domitille Carton .
But whatever happens, we'll have to cut off the remaining suckers! Here, the teams work with electric pruning shears. The cut is clean and easy. It's effortless. Have you been doing this for a long time?
"No, since this winter, when we gradually equipped all the operators with electric pruning shears. Domitille started winter pruning with her three compressors, before quickly equipping the first team with electric pruning shears.
And the results were not long in coming: time savings of up to 25%, ease of use and manoeuvrability, drastic reduction in the risk of carpal tunnel pain, elimination of cables and constraints linked to the tractor and compressor, greater working flexibility... So much so that a week later, a second team received its batch of electric pruning shears. And the last team was equipped a month later: a substantial investment, but one that was made possible by the time saved by switching to electric pruning shears!
"We have 49 pruning shears across the farm, and 5 back-up pruning shears".
Every evening, after the day's pruning, the operators go home with their equipment. They recharge their batteries at home, so training in proper use is absolutely essential.
"When the teams arrive in October, and again in January, our partner PX Agri provides comprehensive training on how to use the pruning shears, as well as how to load and unload them and maintain them: how to file and grease the blade. Every morning, the team leaders check that the equipment is in good working order and well maintained".
Operators take 100% responsibility for the condition of the pruning shears they are allocated at the start of the season. One thing is certain: everyone is absolutely delighted with the switch to electric pruning shears. In fact, there have been no serious accidents or cuts, as the pruning shears are fitted with a new wireless safety system, consisting of a conductive trigger. If the cutting head comes into contact with the opposite hand, the blade reopens instantly.
Watch his full testimonial in the video below.
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