IssuesFall 2012Equipment and Technology Showcase

Equipment and Technology Showcase

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Tillage

The Joker’s 20-inch notched disks are designed to rotate faster than traditional disks.
The Joker’s 20-inch notched disks are designed to rotate faster than traditional disks.

Horsch Anderson is offering Joker, a high-speed, versatile new tillage tool. Suitable for use both in the spring and fall seasons, the Joker offers a wide variety of applications, including residue mixing, field conditioning, seed bed preparation and fertilizer incorporation.

The Joker’s 20-inch notched disks are designed to rotate faster than traditional disks, allowing the machine to complete fields in half the time or less on a per-foot basis than other tillage products. However, one of its greatest benefits, according to Louis Claassen, who grows potatoes near Vauxhall, Alta., is its adaptability.

“We use [the Joker] in the fall for stubble control and also after the potato harvest, to work the fields and cut the vines,” says Claassen. “We also use it for preparing the fields for the winter. I think I use the machine on every field, sometimes two to three times a season.”

“It’s more accurate for depth control [than other tillage products], and you’re also able to use it in the spring for seed bed preparation. The machine really shines in wet conditions. We’ve used it over quite a few springs. You can’t wait for every spot to dry out—sometimes you have to just go, and this is the machine for that.”

The Joker is available in the MT series with 13 to 20-foot working widths, the RT series with 23 to 37-foot working widths, and the PT series with 30 to 40-foot working widths.

For more information, visit horschanderson.com.

Sugar Analysis

Techmark Inc., the Lansing, Mich.-based agricultural engineering company, is offering the Techmark Approved Laboratory Program for sugar analysis and quality control for pre-harvest and storage potatoes.

Techmark Approved Labs use lightboxes to take consistent photos of processed potatoes for quality evaluation.
Techmark Approved Labs use lightboxes to take consistent photos of processed potatoes for quality evaluation.

The program is currently offered out of two locations in Canada—the Alberta Potato Lab in Taber, Alta., and at Southern Manitoba Potato Company near Winkler, Man. Growers can send samples to these locations or contact Techmark to set up a Techmark Approved Lab at their own operations.

Once a lab is set up, Techmark offers technical support along with a web-based reporting system to which growers upload data from their sugar and fry analyses. The program allows growers to view historical data and regional averages for their crop. “We analyze the data, and then we work with growers to maintain or improve the process quality of their storage crop,” says Patrick Morris, laboratory manager at Techmark.

“Sugar analysis in storage [potatoes] is important,” he says. “Reducing sugars fry dark and cost growers money by reducing process quality. Sugar analysis can be used to create the best storage management plan for a grower’s crop.”

The Techmark ChipPro consulting program is a compliment to the lab program. In ChipPro, Techmark works with the grower to create a storage plan and through monthly consultations reviews new data and suggests best storage management for the crop. According to Morris, high process quality is the goal of both programs.

Call Patrick for more information at 1-517-322-0250.

Loading

Logan Farm Equipment is offering the Logan Load Pro 2000 series of live bottom truck boxes, “the best-built, best-operating and lowest maintenance boxes on the market,” according to Dave Gallant, owner of Winnipeg-based Gallant Sales.

“Logan has taken what they felt were the best features of live bottom boxes throughout the industry, added their own ideas for improvements and rolled them all into this superior design,” says Gallant.

According to Gallant, many of the other boxes on the market are prone to cracking in critical areas, and may require periodic trips to the welding shop. This quite often involves complete removal of the box from the truck in order to gain access to the defects. “That literally does not occur on these boxes because of the superior design and construction—for example, only full length steel is used, no welded seams,” says Gallant.

The truck boxes are available in electric and/or hydraulic drive models, in sizes ranging from 20 to 30 feet. According to Gallant, these boxes will improve growers’ bottom line due both to their low maintenance and their faster unloading times, which equate to faster turnarounds times, and which, over a larger fleet, may also equate to fewer trucks and fewer drivers.

View these Logan boxes at gallantsales.com or call Dave at 1-204-254-8126.

Logan Load Pro 2000 series live bottom truck boxes require less maintenance than other boxes on the market.
Logan Load Pro 2000 series live bottom truck boxes require less maintenance than other boxes on the market.

Monitoring

Cole-Parmer is offering its Testo Pocket Line Thermo-Anemometer with Humidity to potato growers this storage season. The handheld device uses professional-grade sensors to monitor heating, ventilation and air velocity conditions, and displays the information on a large backlit screen.

The device can be used in many industrial applications, but it has unique potential for the potato industry as well, according to Michael Knapp, product manager for Cole-Parmer. The thermo-anemometer could be used as a backup to quickly check temperature or humidity in any potato storage facility, and is small enough to conveniently be carried in a jacket pocket. “Potato growers have to be very careful what the conditions are where the product is being held,” says Knapp. “This kind of product would be ideal for them to take out in their pockets and check to see if it’s getting overly humid [in the storage facility].

The meter is small enough to be carried in a jacket pocket.

“It’s designed for someone who isn’t necessarily an expert on wind and weather, to be used as a tool,” says Knapp. “It’s rather inexpensive for something that does so much—it achieves this by using an electric component that’s very sensitive to temperature. You can measure temperature at a small footprint and very accurately.”

The meters come with a convenient soft carrying case with belt clip as well as a hard cover for protection against dirt and impact.

For more information, visit coleparmer.ca.

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