Australian banana growers have a new option for the 2026-27 harvest window. Queensland-based supplier ABC Supplies today announced local availability of the BX-6, a mid-sized banana harvester with optical fruit-sizing and cushioned drop conveyors — technology previously only found on machines twice the price.
What's new in the BX-6
- Optical sizing head — the on-board camera grades hands of fruit as they come off the plant, so undersized bunches are diverted to a secondary crate for processing. No manual sort at the packing shed.
- Twin-conveyor drop path — reduces bruising by 63% in ABC Supplies' field trials compared to their prior model.
- Row-following GPS — locks the boom to the row centreline, letting one operator run the machine full-time without manual re-alignment.
- Standard 3-day training package — ABC Supplies includes on-site training at your orchard as part of every BX-6 sale.
Where it fits
The BX-6 is aimed at growers running 10–30 hectares. At $138,000 (ex GST, before install), it slots between ABC Supplies' entry-level BX-3 and the premium BX-9 fully-autonomous rig. According to ABC Supplies' CTO, the target buyer is a family grower currently running 5–7 casual pickers per harvest.
"We wanted to give the mid-market the vision-guided tech that was locked away in the top-end machines. On our early trials growers cut labour hours per hectare by around 40%, and paid the machine off inside three seasons." — Dr Peta Nguyen, CTO, ABC Supplies
