Toward Sustainable Mechanized Production of Processing Tomatoes: Crop–Machine Interactions, Operational Trade-Offs, and Pathways for Intelligent Control

Abstract

Mechanized production of processing tomatoes depends on coordinated operations, but crop variability and successive material transfers make performance strongly condition-dependent. This narrative review used structured, non-systematic literature identification across multidisciplinary databases and publisher platforms, supplemented by backward reference tracing through July 2026. Evidence was synthesized through crop–agronomy conditions, machine responses, operational trade-offs, validation maturity, sustainability-related outcomes, and downstream residue requirements. Four findings emerge. First, architecture, maturity synchronization, fruit mechanics, stand geometry, and water status define machine operating envelopes. Second, harvesting is governed by a persistent conflict among detachment, loss, damage, impurity content, throughput, and energy demand; comparisons of settings benefit from a common basis in cultivar, feed rate, machine configuration, and metric definition. Third, sensing and prediction studies provide a foundation for automatic execution and feedback-based adjustment, with replicated whole-machine field trials offering the next step in evaluating multistage control. Fourth, residue discharge, size reduction, collection, and densification need to be specified backward from soil-incorporation or valorization requirements. Operation-specific sustainability benefits are most directly supported for water and input efficiency, marketable-yield retention, and residue recovery, with matched assessments of energy, cost, and life-cycle impacts providing opportunities to extend these findings. Progress therefore requires crop-specific tests that report engineering benefits together with losses, adverse effects, resource use, and operating boundaries.