Oxbo Celebrates 40 years of Berry Harvesting
With the new model year, the company celebrates four decades of designing and manufacturing berry harvesters
Lynden, Washington, August 7, 2025 – With the introduction of its 2026 berry harvesters, Oxbo is celebrating 40 years of designing and manufacturing berry harvesters in Lynden, Washington. In 1985, Korvan set out to design a berry harvester to meet the needs of local raspberry farmers. In the early 1990s, Korvan developed both the Dynarotor and Orbirotor shaking systems—systems that have become synonymous with selective and effective raspberry and blueberry harvesting. In 2004, Korvan was purchased by Oxbo.
Designed to create customer value and consistently deliver more marketable fruit, Oxbo has continued to develop new technology like EvenFill, EcoMode, SoftSurface, and FleetCommand for the berry industry. In 2025, Oxbo released its newest advancement for blueberry growers, AutoFill, which reduces labor by up to 75% and recently won a Top 10 New Product Award at the World Ag Expo in February 2025.
“We are proud of our legacy in the berry industry and strive to continue to develop equipment and technology that drives customer value,” commented Kathryn VanWeerdhuizen, Oxbo’s Director of Sales & Marketing for Fruit products. “The Oxbo team continues to work on developments designed to help berry growers reduce labor and increase marketable fruit. We are proud to design and manufacture our equipment in Lynden, Washington.”
40 Years of Product Development
In 1985, Korvan developed its first berry harvester, the 8500, to give local raspberry growers better harvesting technology; it was closely followed by a production model 8600 in 1986. In 1990, the Korvan launch the popular model 9000, which led the raspberry industry for over a decade. In 1994, Oxbo introduce the revolutionary Orbirotor shaking technology—the orbital rod action paired with the acetyl rod proved to be superior for selective harvesting in raspberries. While the model 9000 was capable of harvesting blueberries, it wasn’t specifically designed around the needs of blueberry growers. So, in 1995, Korvan launched the unique model 8000, a single drop blueberry harvester available with either a Dynarotor or Orbirotor—both systems proven effective in different climates and conditions. In 1998, Korvan introduced the 9800, its first top-load berry harvester with a moveable rear deck, designed for higher tonnage blueberry crops. The Lynden-based manufactured expanded into other crops in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including grapes, raisins, olives, and citrus.
Oxbo acquired Korvan in 2004 and began producing berry harvesters under the Oxbo brand in 2008. In 2007, Oxbo launched the next generation load berry harvester, the 7420. In 2011, Oxbo introduced the 9120 a lower-cost side-drive berry harvester geared specifically to harvesting IQF raspberries. Driven by the global growth in the blueberry industry, next generation harvesters, delivering higher productivity, fruit quality and new levels of integrated control technology, were brought to the market. Oxbo released the 7440 in 2016, the 8040 in 2017, the 8140 wider four-wheel single drop blueberry harvester in 2018, and the 9140 in 2021. The newest berry harvester, the 7450, was also launched in 2021 designed to better meet evolving cultural practices and growers’ needs.
Value-Added Technology Development
In addition to model development and patented shaking technology, Oxbo has invested heavily in integrated technology aimed at delivering more marketable berries, including:
Oxbo SoftSurface: a unique, patented system to reduce fruit bruising and improve the shelf life of machine-harvested blueberries for the fresh market.
Oxbo EvenFill: an integrated flat weighing system to deliver consistent flat weights reducing downstream processing costs
Oxbo FleetCommand: a telematics system including location data, a link to EvenFill, and all harvester settings, plus the ability to set field and job data and manage maintenance schedules.
Oxbo AutoFill: built on the EvenFill technology, AutoFill automatically de-stack lugs, fills them to a preset weight and indexes full lugs to reduce on-harvester labor.
Oxbo EcoMode: fully integrated engine RPM control design to reduce fuel consumption.
A Commitment to the Berry Industry
Oxbo still builds all its berry harvesters in Lynden, Washington, exporting harvesters and parts to customers across the United States and in dozens of countries around the world. Oxbo harvesters are supported by Oxbo locations and through local dealers.
Oxbo’s team in Lynden is responsible for mechanical and controls design, R&D, and manufacturing. Oxbo employs dedicated professionals in parts fabrication, including laser, brake, lathe, mill and saw activities, parts handling, welding, paint, and final assembly. The facility in Lynden also manufactures Oxbo’s grape and olive harvesters.
After forty years of berry harvesting, the Oxbo team continues to listen to customers with the goal of designing the most productive berry harvesters that deliver more marketable berries.
To celebrate the anniversary, Oxbo’s model year 2026 units will feature a commemorative anniversary decal.
For information on the Oxbo berry harvesters, visit www.oxbo.com/berry-harvesters-and-technology/.
About Oxbo
At Oxbo, we are Optimizing farming together. Serving the application, forage, fruit, seed, vegetable, and root crop markets, Oxbo aims to be the clear choice for specialty harvesting and controlled application technology. The Oxbo team consists of global engineering, manufacturing, sales, and service support. For more information, visit www.oxbo.com.
