Excuse my dirty lens, but harvesting potatoes is a dirty job. Here you can see a 10-wheeler lined up beside the digger to receive the potatoes as the digger works its way through the field. You can see the potatoes coming off the conveyor and where they’ve piled up at the front of the truck. The goal is to minimize the drop of the potato as much as possible in order to minimize bruising. The pile builds at the front and works its way to the back of the truck. Once loaded, the truck pulls to the side and stops, an empty truck takes it’s place, and the full truck tarps the load preventing contamination before heading to the processor or to the storage where it is weighed and unloaded. A 10-wheeler can hold approximately 30,000-40,000 pounds, or 15-20 tons, of potatoes.
Russet potatoes are the predominate potato raised in the industry and of the russet variety the Russet Burbank makes up almost 40% of the total acreage. I counted 64 russet varieties listed on the WSU website – you can read all the quality attributes of all the different varieties there. I dare you!!
Come back in a couple of days to find out why the truck is tarped, even if traveling just a few miles from the field.
I didn’t realise potato farming required so much heavy machinery.
donna´s last blog …Random Shots
Very nice.
Toni, did you get close to those big machines? Or did you use a long lens? If so which one? You must have gotten quite dirty!
Puna´s last blog …November 5, Scattered Leaves Tour
I will have to have a talk with my grampa. We had to pick the potatoes on his farm by hand.
Except one year when I convinced my sister to pick the potatoes while I carried the bucket (I told her that way we each only had to do one thing). It took her a few rows to realize that it was NOT a good deal. Tee-hee.
elizabeth´s last blog …is it just me
Any other photographer would be high tailing it outta any scene that stirred up that much dust! I think the dirty lens adds volumes to this image
I’ve never seen potatoes being harvested. The way the trucks are lined up is the same method for silage. Been there, done that. I’ve been telling Matthew he needs to learn to like potatoes. Can’t image a meal without one. Neat shot.
sherri´s last blog …tell me again why I should be impressed with this thing
I watched a special the other night on potatoes and how dangerous it is to grow mono crops. It was very interesting and I see we have a lot of potatoes going off to become McDonalds French Fries. Cool shot!
Terry H.´s last blog …Mommie Dearest
That is one seriously dirty lens. All for the image…! My fav potatoes are Bintjes or Nicolas. Baked in stock they are heavenly.
A fine action shot of this special brand of farming. The picture is very good and I learned a lot from your informative comment. Always good to learn of something new.
don´s last blog …Mountain Sunrise
That sure saves the backs of many people who would have had to hunch over and pick all of those by hand…could you imagine?
rhayne´s last blog …Star Fish
So big, so very very big!!! The scale is enormous.
uphilldowndale´s last blog …A Bird in the Barn
Definitely looks like a dirty job, but I really like the textures in this image.
Brian Chen´s last blog …Pinapple Cake