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Valley Plains Equipment to Expand Valley City Location

North Dakota-based John Deere dealer Valley Plains Equipment is updating its Valley City, N.D., location, according to a March 30 report from The Jamestown Sun. Valley Plains Equipment has 12 locations in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. 

The Valley City store will be open in late November or early December. The addition will quadruple the store's 100 by 200 foot service area. 

Valley Plains Equipment acquired John Deere dealer Green Iron Equipment in August 2023, adding 6 stores. 

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Designing a Robotic Berry Picker

Video: Designing a Robotic Berry Picker


Since blackberries must be harvested by hand, the process is time-consuming and labor-intensive. To support a growing blackberry industry in Arkansas, food science associate professor Renee Threlfall is collaborating with mechanical engineering assistant professor Anthony Gunderman to develop a mechanical harvesting system. Most recently, the team designed a device to measure the force needed to pick a blackberry without damaging it. The data from this device will help inform the next stage of development and move the team closer to the goal of a fully autonomous robotic berry picker. The device was developed by Gunderman, with Yue Chen, a former U of A professor now at Georgia Tech, and Jeremy Collins, then a U of A undergraduate engineering student. To determine the force needed to pick blackberries without damage, the engineers worked with Threlfall and Andrea Myers, then a graduate student.