Potato Review

MACHINERY Leading Scottish grower improves grading operations EAST Lothian-based J. Haig Hamilton & Sons has updated the potato grading operations of its 550-acre crop. Based near the beautiful North Berwick coastline, Haig Hamilton farms a total of 3,500 acres of land, and as well as a high-quality crop of potatoes, the family farming business also farms oilseed rape, winter barley and winter wheat. Tong Engineering’s flagship Caretaker mobile grader has been installed to increase capacity and capability. It replaces an 11-year-old former Caretaker model. The new model has increased automation, upgraded cleaning capabilities, and improved energy efficiency with Tong’s Blue-Inverter all-electric direct drive technology. Featuring a high-capacity infeed hopper, the Caretaker grading system specified for Haig Hamilton incorporates an eight-row model of Tong’s EasyClean separator, complete with full Auto-Touch HMI control and advanced diagnostics. An 2,400mm-wide Tong EasyGrade screen grading module carefully grades crop before it passes over a six-man LED-lit inspection area and is then gently transferred to boxes via Tong’s Midi EasyFill box filler. Haig Hamilton said: “Going from a four-row cleaner to the eight-row EasyClean means we are now able to double our processing capacity when required, but it’s the automation that is really making all the difference,” he said. “Being based in Scotland, changeable weather is usually one of our biggest challenges, although this year has been unusually dry, but the Tong Auto-Touch HMI control system is extremely advanced and easy to use. At the touch of a button, all adjustments to the cleaner’s settings are completely automatic. “Most notably, the automatic high- speed cleaning function is incredible! We can schedule it to take place at set intervals, or in relatively dry conditions like we have at the moment, we set it to run at the end of each day. Within seconds dirt is removed from the EasyClean and it is ready for the next day’s work.” Keeping Good Seed Healthy USE PLANT PROTECTION PRODUCTS SAFELY. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL AND PRODUCT INFORMATION BEFORE USE. Certis, 3 Riverside, Granta Park, Great Abington, Cambridgeshire CB21 6AD. Telephone: 0845 373 0305 | www.certiseurope.co.uk ©2021 A holistic approach to maximising seed tuber potential www.certiseurope.co.uk/tubercare