Arborist Expert Witnesses Opine on Damage to Fruit Trees During Harvest on Commercial Farm

This case involves a dispute between a large scale fruit grower and beekeeping company, and a processing company that was contracted to execute harvesting operations. During the first harvest that the processing company executed for the grower, an abnormally large portion of the grower’s trees were damaged and killed, impacting the grower’s ability to produce fruit at profitable levels in future seasons. Initially, the use of RoundUp Mosanto at a nearby agriculture plot was believed to be the cause of the damage, but further investigation ruled out the possibility. It was alleged that the processing company, which used a widely accepted harvesting technique that involved shaking the trees, was negligent in that they shook the trees too hard. As a result, and abnormally high number of trees were damaged during the harvest, and the beekeeping portion of the company’s business was impacted by the reduction of trees requiring fertilization.