Special Bruise

We are now slap bang in the middle of the potato harvest.  Every day Hannah, our technologist at Nene Potatoes, collects a sample from each grower and on the following morning we receive a quality report detailing how much mechanical bruising we have on our potatoes.

The system is very transparent, all of the members are able to see one another's results.  Every day is like A level results day.  Obviously we want to make sure that we are not damaging our potatoes but, even more importantly, we want to be better than the other members of the group.

We haven't had any rain here for ages and the soil is as dry as dust.  When you combine this with the high percentage of dry matter that some potato varieties have this year, it makes for very difficult harvesting conditions.

The thing about potato bruises is that they don't show up for a few days.  You can easily, ignorantly and blissfully devalue 200 tonnes of potatoes a day by £60 per tonne if you change any aspect of your harvesting regime.

Every day we are making minor changes to our mechanical system based on our results - slowing down a belt here, speeding up a roller there, adding a rubber flap, taking off a rubber flap, trimming a rubber flap and putting it on again, taking off a rubber flap and putting on a longer bit of rubber and then putting it on again, taking it off again, trying a thinner piece of rubber, trying a thicker piece of rubber, mounting it a bit higher....and at a slight angle.....and back how it was, kicking the rubber flap.  You get the idea.  It's a nightmare.

Hannah's hard work is a key benefit of being part of Nene Potatoes.  It is better to be worrying about the problem while we are in a position to influence the outcome.

We are proceeding very cautiously in Maris Piper with a dry matter of 23 and the results seem acceptable and consistent.  I still feel a little anxious when I open the spreadsheet each morning.