This is taken from the front end of the potato digger, where it digs up the dirt and potatoes and brings it through the machinations that sort the potatoes out from the dirt and vines.  Don’t ask me how that all works, because I haven’t a clue.  I just know the dirt and vines go flying out the back end and the potatoes are routed to a conveyer, which you can see in the image below.  The conveyor takes the potatoes up, turns a corner where a vine puller removes any vines, rock or dirt clods, etc., before loading into a truck.

I mentioned in the previous post that after the truck is fully loaded it is tarped before it proceeds to the storage or processor.  Tarping is one of the requirements for passing the USDA GAP audit.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed a set of criteria that the processor and grower must implement in order to pass the audit, Good Agricultural Practices for the grower and Good Handling Practices for the processor.  The GAP audit is actually a voluntary process, but the companies purchasing product from the processor are more and more requiring GAP/GHP certification.  Some companies such as McDonalds and Sysco require even more stringent requirements.  All of the criteria are things that most conscientious growers do anyway, it is just a matter of documenting the act of doing it, because if it isn’t on paper, did you actually do it?

A lot of physical labor, sound and timely decisions, and the paper work to document it all, goes into raising a good crop of potatoes, whether they go to fresh market or to the processor, so that you the consumer can enjoy french fries and mashed or baked potatoes.  If you enjoy cooking you can try the delicious sounding frittata, bread, manicotti, gnocchi, latkes, scalloped, au gratin potatoes…too many recipes to list here, but you can download the recipes from the Washington Potato Commission who compiled recipes created by chefs from Eastern Washington or some recipes from Puget Sound chefs.  Personally, I’d start out with the Eastern Washington recipes, because after all, this is where the majority of the potatoes are grown…we should know how to cook them, right??

Here are a couple of bonus shots to complete the series.  Next up will be some images for November in Black and White, which is hosted by Maya at Springtree Road and you can read all about it here so that you can participate, too!