Harvest capacity and methods
Harvest systems
The harvest systems used are:
Plough or animal drawn potato lifter----
Elevator digger----
Complete harvester
Harvest capacity
Of all field operations, harvesting is the most time consuming. The harvest capacity available, is a main factor which determines the area of potatoes which can be grown in a certain production unit.
Both the available equipment ( capacity !! ) and the number of days that are expected to be favourable for harvesting are to be considered.
Prior to the harvest, if needed, haulm destruction often takes place.
At harvest the tubers are taken from the soil and tubers are separated from the soil particles. Under dry or wet conditions mechanical harvesting is difficult, especially in heavy soil.
Timing
Factors to be considered are:
- the stage of the crop (maturity stage)
- quality of the crops
- market opportunities
- storage capacity available
- acreage to be harvested and harvest capacity
TIMING HARVEST: YIELD AND QUALITY
Harvest operations
Harvesting potatoes includes the following operations:
- lifting
- collecting the tubers
- separating tubers and soil/clods/stones
- transport
- grading and sorting of tubers