No-nonsense, no-frills news stories from around the world
Tong is pleased to announce its first new product development for 2022 with the launch of the new edition JetFill big bag filler. “The JetFill has always been a popular machine in our home and export markets,” says Charlie Rich, Sales Director at Tong Engineering. “With this in mind, the new JetFill has been carefully fine-tuned to incorporate enhancements to the machine’s proven design, as well as the introduction of the most advanced controls.
Potato growers in the U.S. facing post-harvest diseases now have a new option for protection during storage. Archive fungicide from Syngenta preserves potato quality in post-harvest. “Archive is a powerful pre-mix fungicide that will help growers combat the major storage pathogens that threaten their crop,” says Heather Ambuehl, post-harvest lead at Syngenta. “This post-harvest tool is one growers can incorporate into their decay management strategy.”
Adrian Saenz presented last week during the Potato Business Summit, held in conjunction with Potato Expo 2022. Saenz is currently the Division Business Manager for the John Deere Agricultural & Turf Division within Deere. During his presentation, titled “Ag Technology Outlook”, Adrian Saenz highlighted the importance – and abundance – of data that modern commercial farmers are able to gather via technological means nowadays.
AgroScout agro analytics platform announced today that it acquired the assets of TerrAvion, a market leader in imagery data management for agriculture. The acquisition fuels AgroScout’s high-resolution agriculture aerial imagery capabilities and agro data artificial intelligence for a wide range of crops. Clients will have access to a powerful combination of aerial and satellite imagery products and precision agriculture services for their fields.
During a press conference at CES 2022, John Deere revealed a fully autonomous tractor that’s ready for large-scale production. The machine combines Deere’s 8R tractor, TruSet-enabled chisel plow, GPS guidance system, and new advanced technologies. The autonomous tractor will be available to farmers later this year.
Like “The Terminator” for weeds, the Carbon Robotics machine, dubbed “Bud,” rolls through farm fields using artificial intelligence to discern weeds from crops and using a high-power laser to kill the weeds. This lets farmers cultivate crops with less herbicide and reduced labor, improving crop yields and saving money.
Today, Decco U.S. Post-Harvest, Inc. the post-harvest affiliate of UPL Limited, announces the launch of Decco DMN Aerosol at the 2022 Potato Expo in Anaheim. Decco adds the new EPA-registered product to its growing potato storage portfolio available across North America.
The UK’s leading manufacturer of vegetable handling equipment is heading to Potato Expo next month to help US food producers achieve more with less. Haith Group, which has been designing and supplying innovative solutions for farmers, packers and food manufacturers for 75 years, will be promoting its Pro-Line solution in Anaheim, California, on 5th and 6th January during the Potato Expo 2022 event.
A fourth-generation potato farming and marketing family in North Dakota is leaping into a new era of electronic potato grading. The Hall family partnership of Hoople in northeast North Dakota put in place a multi-million-dollar optical grading system that uses cameras to evaluate potatoes individually and sort them into lanes. The Halls’ Spectrim can sort up to 1,700 potatoes a minute or around 120,000 per hour.
AVR announces that two major changes in harvesters’ cameras will be carried out to increase the quality of the images and the ease of use. AVR now offers a new system of ridging elements and cage rollers. Last week, one of AVR’s Pumas left the port of Antwerp and started its long journey to Australia.
Vakuum Food GmbH & Co. KG is a snacks producer based in Neuenkirchen near Osnabrück and was founded by Martin Johanning in 2018. The company’s new brand is called the “Snacks-TEAM” and is the result of producing high-quality snacks conventionally and with organic quality, using a combination of high-performance vacuum packaging and pulsed electric field (PEF) technology.
AgSensor Solutions is a new platform company designed to help sensor creators move agricultural applications to market more quickly, has been formed by a collaboration of three established firms. The new company says it provides a bridge to commercialization for sensor creators. The gap between creation and reaching the market sees too much failure, says Michael DeSa, founder of AGD and managing director of AgSensor Solutions.
The potato industry in South Africa is investing in various technologies to improve its sustainability, and is currently in the process of developing a mobile app to improve communication with members. Willie Jacobs, CEO of Potatoes SA the app will allow farmers to identify problem spots and compare production from different areas on their farms, and over time, [and] also [to] compare production with what has been achieved in previous seasons.
Advanced crop technology company E Green Global Co. Ltd. (EGG) announced this week that it has raised $15M additional equity funding from ADB Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). EGG uses patented tissue culture technology to mass produce and continually harvest disease-free microtubers throughout the year in bio-secured plant factories.
For the 2022 season, GRIMME presents the completely newly developed store loaders of the SL 900 and SL 700 series, which combine the highest throughput rates with optimum crop protection and user-friendly operation. The store loaders can be used to store potatoes, onions, red beet, celery and other bulk goods, among other things. The new generation of store loaders immediately catches the eye with its open and slim machine design with the counterweights arranged on the sides of the chassis.
With an innovation award under its belt and an esteemed new technical expert on the payroll, sprout inhibition developer Restrain was one of the most talked about participants at the 2021 British Potato Industry Event in Harrogate. Once every two years the whole of the potato industry comes together for the British Potato Industry Event for networking and discussing business opportunities. This year, a lot of the buzz was about sprout inhibition developer Restrain.
From easier cutting and acrylamide mitigation to lower oil uptake and crunchier crisps, pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment delivers a diverse range of benefits, as Michelle Knott writes in an article published in the winter edition of The Snacks Magazine 2021. Knott explains that electroporation uses a pulsed electric field to drill minute pores in the cell membranes of raw vegetables, leading to a diverse range of benefits – both during processing and in end products.
A new sales, service and parts dealer for Bauer irrigation equipment is offering potential customers a ‘try before you buy’ demonstration of the Rainstar irrigation reel’s features and performance. Renton Farm Services has taken on the Bauer franchise at farm-based premises near Dunbar to support potato and field-scale vegetable growers throughout East Lothian.
A blue, potato-shaped sensor for in-store monitoring of potato crops and an app that estimates your potential crop yield from a photo and a blue mat have been launched by Metos UK at the recent British Potato event. Inside the blue tuber-shaped SolAntenna are sensors to measure and track temperature, humidity and CO2 levels in store.
Kiremko announced earlier today that the company has decided not to attend the Interpom 2021 event to be hosted in Kortrijk, Belgium from 28 to 30 November due to the current COVID-19 situation. Kiremko is excited to announce that the first of its new Corda Invicta specialist fryers has recently been sold. Kiremko launched the new fryer earlier this year.
Dewulf, full-liner in agricultural machines for the cultivation of potatoes and root crops, will present its Enduro harvester at the Interpom 2021 event on 28 – 30 November. The new 4-row self-propelled harvester was first unveiled to the public during an online event last year. Dewulf is proud to introduce the new Enduro for the first time in person at the international trade fair for the potato sector in Kortrijk (BE).
Pulsemaster is a leading provider of Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) systems for the potato processing industry globally. Pulsed electric field treatment of potatoes being processed results in a number of benefits for the customer. Processors using the Pulsemaster’s PEF system obtain their biggest benefit when cutting long, thin French fries from big, raw potatoes, according to Mark de Boevere, Managing director of Pulsemaster.
It’s clearly understood that improved farm productivity is good for business and more recently, for carbon. But the challenge has always been how to measure the cost of producing a particular crop with regards to carbon. Hutchinsons’ new Omnia Carbon cost of production tool has been designed to tackle just this,
