Potatoes - August

Through August the second earlies are being harvested. Potato picking is now mechanised with machines lifting and off loading the crop in one operation.

The crop is lifted and runs over a series of moving slats that seperate the haulm from the tubers. Soil drops through the slats and is returned to the field.

To ensure clean potatoes for storage the lifting operation will only be done in dry conditions. Maincrop harvesting which begins in September will be undertaken as quickly as possible but can be delayed by wet weather until November.

Tubers on the surface will go green in the light and are rejected.