Many in Canada are so far out of touch of where their food comes from. They don't realize that the food in the grocery stores comes from the hard work of Canadian farmers and producers. If you ate today give thanks to the farmers and producers that made it possible. I thought it would be interesting to show you how potatoes are harvested in Albany, Prince Edward Island with a video courtesy of my favourite Canadian funny man, Rick Mercer.
Canadians eat a lot of potatoes. In fact each Canadian eats 154 lb of potatoes annually. Potatoes make up for 50% of our vegetable intake each year. The video shows how Innovator potatoes (a Yukon russet variety) are harvested. A digger pulls the potatoes to the surface depositing them in straight rows ready for the harvester. The Spudnick harvester goes along the rows of freshly dug potatoes lifting the potatoes onto a conveyor belt where dirt and stalks are removed. They are then are transported through the boom into a truck that slowly drives beside the harvester. Each truck takes about 6 minutes to load. The potatoes are transported from the field to a large building via conveyor belt where rocks are hand picked from the potatoes moving along into storage. Potatoes in the storage building are then transported to the bagging building where potatoes are bagged ready for shipping to grocery stores.
Just a couple of comments: During harvest season, barring death, the farmer along with any family members working on the farm and other workers are glued to the farm. The primary consideration is to get the crop harvested as quickly as possible to prevent any spoilage in the field. The method for harvesting the potatoes is fairly close to the method for harvesting wheat, corn, soybeans, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions, beets and sugar beets. There will are slight modifications to suit the vegetable or grain being harvested but the basics is the same. Standing on the platform picking rocks from the potatoes can trigger motion sickness so it is not a job everyone can do. The video shows one commercial potato farm operation but there are many more like this farm throughout Prince Edward Island and elsewhere in Canada. I hope you enjoy the video as you learn a bit more about where your food comes from.
