Pine Island Team Profile: Fred Henschel

This week, we took another trip to the shop to meet the newest member of our Facilities/Equipment team. Fred Henschel started at Pine Island Cranberry three months ago and has been doing a great job ever since.

He’s been doing a lot of the normal prevention and maintenance tasks; he’s rebuilt sanders, the reels for the boom reels, the pickers, and so forth. But his latest task is working on our new Gates Harrow machine. “This is what I like best,” Fred says. “I was an inventory control specialist, but I’ve been a builder and fabricator as a hobby for my entire life. Getting to do this for a living is great. If it needs to be built…I’ll build it.”

The Gates Harrow is the latest addition to our equipment program and everyone is very excited to try it come harvest time. “It’s much less labor intensive,” says manager Louis Cantafio. “We typically run a six man picking crew and their target is about 12.5 acres per day. On a more level set of bogs, they can do more than that, but with a Gates Harrow we’ve seen a two-man crew get through 40 acres. It’s a lot more efficient.” It’s not as hard on the plants as our usual method, and our renovation program is geared for increased efficiency by being user-friendly for equipment like this.

“Coco [Mercado] and Carlos [Baez] put the tracks on, and then they passed this part over to me,” Fred says. “It came in on a skid, but no attachments for the tractor, because we’re going to customize it.” He has an appreciation for form as well as function, and wants this new piece to fit into this aesthetic. “I want it so you can’t tell where the tractor ends and the additions begin. It has to look seamless. It’s got to be functional, but I’d like it to look nice, too.” Fred is especially looking forward to seeing the harvest this year. “I can’t wait to see this in action, but I’ve never seen it done the usual way, either!” he says. A professional photographer, he’s also looking forward to the opportunity to capture it all on film.

“Fred’s extremely creative,” Louis says. “His skill set has only increased since he got here, and he showed up in pretty good shape to begin with. I think he’s a keeper.”