Improving the productivity of the European Potato Harvest

In 2005 the farmers of the European Union grew 2.1 million hectares of potatoes. These potatoes are typically grown on rows 85 cm wide, a simple sum shows that the European crop is harvested each autumn from 24.7 million kilometers of potato rows. The overwhelming majority of this crop is dug, as it has been for 30 years, by trailed two row harvesters. Indeed it is estimated that there are just 50 to 60 four-row machines at work in Europe today as compared with over 20,000 single and two row machines. Most of these machines have a simple side elevator and so require another tractor and trailer to run alongside and so on a typical early autumn afternoon over 40,000 Tractors and their drivers are working in the fields of Europe harvesting potatoes.

This stagnation in productivity in the potato crop contrasts starkly with the rest of European agriculture which has been through a technological revolution

For example, a typical Sugar Beet harvester of the late 1970’s would be a trailed 2 row model like this Standen above

By 2006 the majority of Sugar Beet was lifted by Contractors with large self propelled machines of up to 600 hp like this Ropa Eurotiger (picture from farmphoto.com) lifting up to 12 rows. So successful have these machines been that in 2005 only 220 of these self propelled machines harvested over 90% of the UK Beet crop of 350,000 acres

The simple reason is that self propelled potato harvesters have not been able to demonstrate that they are better then their trailed competition. There is no real difference in output between a two row trailed and a two row self propelled machine and the four row machines are flawed is a number of fundamental areas - web angles, visibility, web widths, flow restrictions and price. The best machine to get potatoes from the ground for many farmers has been the two row harvester. It’s just not that quick about it.

Back in the early 9090's we invented the idea of three row production -three distinct ridges n a 2.75 metre bed. This pushed the machinery out to the acceptable width for the road and allowed a significant increase in output per machine. We also noticed an increase in production from the middle row due to the lack of compaction around the rooting area.

Since then we have been looking for ways to improve mechanisation still further and one course of action was to design and build a six row harvester - this machine would also fit the two row system lifting three beds as well as the three row system lifting two.