Abstract: A pepper harvester includes a picking mechanism for picking peppers from pepper plants. One or more air outlets are located forward of the front end of the picking mechanism. An air supply provides compressed air to the air outlets, which direct air streams backwards towards the picking mechanism or other portion of the harvester which can collect the peppers. During operation of the harvester, peppers which fall from pepper plants ahead of the picking mechanism are blown backwards by the air streams onto the picking mechanism to be collected, thereby increasing the yield of the harvester. The harvester can be used for other fruits or vegetables in addition to peppers.

Abstract: A cleaning apparatus for fruits or vegetables includes a plurality of rods disposed in parallel about a common axis and defining a space having an intake opening and a discharge opening. The rods include driven rods rotated about their respective axes and nondriven idler rods. The rods are moved along a closed circular path surrounding the axis as the driven rods are rotated. The food items being cleaned can be fed through the cleaner from the intake to the discharge opening by a feed mechanism in the form of an auger brush.