Potato Harvest Photos

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1/7/04 12:00 AM The Allan 2-Row Harvester gets ready to begin digging another drill. It's windrowers have already dug the row alongside, and placed them in the drill ahead of the harvester. This way, the 2-row harvester is able to pick up 8 rows per pass.	1/7/04 12:00 AM A front view of the Allan 4-row harvester. You can see here where the wheels of the tractor have been removed, and the tractor mounted into a cradle on the front of the tractor. The small wheels visible under the tractor are tracking wheels used by the computerized navigation system. The harvester picks up 4 drills, plus 12 more that have been dug in advance by windrowers.	1/7/04 12:00 AM This harvester can dig a 30,000 lb truck load in about 5 minutes. On a good day, it can harvest approximately 80 acres. This machine is equipped with computerized steering, depth control, and chain monitors. There are 4 closed circuit tv cameras to show the operator what is going on throughout the machine. A GPS based monitoring system records yield mapes. The replacement cost of this unit with tractor is around $500,000.	1/7/04 12:00 AM A rear view of the 4-row harvester, featuring the twin fans that provide air for dirt separation. While much of the dirt falls through chains feeding potatoes through the harvester, the blower assist in removing clay and dead potato vines. If you get too close to the back of the machine when it's operation, you WILL need a bath!	1/7/04 12:00 AM This side view of the Allan 2-row harvester shows the air fan, crew cabin, and truck loading boom.
1/7/04 12:00 AM This picture, taken on a rainy day after harvest, shows the inside of the 4-row harvester cab. Can you spot the 2 tv monitors, the GPS unit, or the control panel?	1/7/04 12:00 AM A field ready for harvest: potato vines must be dead before harvesting, unless the potatoes will be used immediately. As the potato vines dry up, the tubers underground are increasing the thickness of their skins, and becoming much more resistant to bruises. This process takes 2 - 4 weeks, depending on the variety.	1/7/04 12:00 AM The 4-row harvester, and its team at work. Two 4-row windrowers with booms specially modified to reach over 3 rows are followed by regular 2-row windrowers. The team takes 16 rows at a pass, at a rate of about 3 tonnes a minute.	1/7/04 12:00 AM A closer view.	1/7/04 12:00 AM Leigh Linkletter, with his brother Garth and their father Harry, founded the company. Here on the right, Jim Marchbank, one of the company partners, discusses the crop with Leigh.
1/7/04 12:00 AM It is hard to beat a fall morning, with the sun starting to shine down on the land and the sea.	1/7/04 12:00 AM This Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) provides a lot of functionality to the 4-row harvester. Steering, depth control (how far down the harvester digs), and monitoring of many shafts and chains, are all down by this computer.	1/7/04 12:00 AM To begin digging a field, space must be made for both the trucks and the big wheels of the harvester. Windrowers, which help to dig the entire field, are especially useful as a new field is begun.

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