Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW JULY/AUGUST 2022 53 MACHINERY ON-FARM ADVANCEMENTS AND LABOUR EFFICIENCIES TO BE DEMONSTRATED CROP handling equipment manufacturer, Tong Engineering, has launched several new products and equipment advances in the past two years which it exhibited at farm machinery show LAMMA in May. The machinery developments’ effects on post-harvest operations, aimed at minimising labour requirements whilst maximising capacity and yield, were demonstrated. The company’s exhibits included the FieldLoad PRO which receives and cleans crop at high capacities straight from trailers filled by the harvester, and the new Tong MonstaFill box filler which has been built to combine high capacity and gentle box filling, with reduced forklift movements. In addition to the latest product launches from Tong, optical sorting advancements are increasingly taking centre stage as growers look to reduce the reliance on the workforce and Tong staff met with potato producers to discuss how new camera technologies can be specified to replace traditional manual sorting facilities. Brothers carry on family tradition THREE brothers who grow potatoes in the Hoeksche-Waard region of the Netherlands have purchased their fourth harvester from AVR Connect. The Breure brothers are continuing a family tradition. The business was started in 1923 in the Hoeksche-Waard region and, after the war, three sons of the Breure family took over the business and expanded it. In 1980, son Ad Breure and his wife took over the farm activities from his father Arie and his two brothers. Eventually, in 2009, Ad’s three sons Arjan, Huibert and Adwin joined the business as the most recent generation. Today, they jointly run the company. Arjan takes care of the daily planning, Huibert takes care of the administration and Adwin manages the colleagues in the workshop and in the field. Over the years, they have invested heavily in agricultural equipment which they use both for their own farm and for contract work and their most recent investment is an AVR Puma 4.0 self-propelled harvester, which joins the existing fleet consisting of an AVR Puma 3 (2018), an AVR Puma+ (2014), and an AVR Quadra. Arjan said: “In our opinion, the Puma remains the best investment. We like the authentic concept of this self-propelled harvester: A solid, high-quality four-row harvester with a nice big bunker that offers the necessary capacity. Even the most recent Puma AUTONOMOUS ACQUISITION AGCO, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural machinery and precision ag technology, has acquired JCA Industries, a company that develops autonomous software for agricultural machines, implement controls and electronic system components. JCA, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, specialises in the design of electronic systems and software development to automate and control agricultural equipment. stays true to its basic concept of simplicity, although it has, at the same time, also made some excellent progress over the years.” Adwin added: “When using the ACC digging unit, you can even choose to switch between harvesting with or without diabolos within the same parcel of land, which in our case is mainly on old sea clay. In very wet conditions, we usually lift the diabolos to prevent the ridges from crushed, and vice versa, we always use the diabolos in a drier area. We can choose to switch at any moment and can do so very comfortably from the cabin. He said the “Varioweb” is one of the Puma’s best features. “With this flexible cleaning system, you can decide how much cleaning capacity you need, again depending on the harvesting conditions. These two factors combined allow you to save time and harvest longer - sometimes even up to a day.”