Two of the newest machines within Tong Engineering’s range of vegetable handling equipment are proving invaluable in transforming post-harvest operations for Hampshire-based potato grower, Whitewater Potatoes.

According to a company statement, both the mobile cleaning and loading powerhouse – the FieldLoad PRO, and high capacity MonstaFill box filler – were launched as part of a suite of new product developments from Tong throughout 2019 and 2020, focusing on streamlining the handling process with maximum efficiency and throughput in mind.

Whitewater Potatoes in Hook, Hampshire grows 1900 acres of potatoes both on its main farm at Lodge Farm in Hampshire, and on land in Scotland. During their first demanding season of 2020, both machines have come to the fore in making light work of cleaning and loading crop at very high capacities, reducing manual operations by almost 50%. With a farm team that plants, manages, harvests and stores an impressive 30,000 tons of potatoes for the chipping market, Whitewater Potatoes relies on a swift and efficient post-harvest process that allows them to keep up with market demands.

“With the need to process high volumes of potatoes straight from the field, we decided to review our existing operations in order to maximize throughput and minimize labor requirements,” explains Gavin Janaway, managing director at Whitewater Potatoes. “After our initial discussion with Tong, we could see that the EasyClean separator was going to provide the cleaning capabilities we need, and the FieldLoadPRO was the machine for us. After some consideration of the different box filling options, it was clear that the throughput capabilities of the MonstaFill would really take our capacity potential to the next level.”

Featuring a high-capacity infeed hopper, the FieldLoadPRO at Whitewater Potatoes receives harvested crop directly from trailers in the field, before crop is transferred to Tong’s EasyClean separator and high-speed PU coil unit, which ensures effective cleaning of crop in all conditions. Crop is then inspected within the machine’s insulated inspection cabin, before it is gently transported via the remote-controlled cart elevator to the MonstaFill box filler.

Manufactured to evenly fill one-ton boxes, the MonstaFill features a 2.5 cubic meter capacity holding hopper at each end of the machine’s main crop conveyor. While the machine can fill boxes to level, the hopper tanks are also fitted with integrated load cells, which allow them to fill to a pre-determined weight ready for discharge into boxes. Once one hopper is full, the conveyor begins to fill the second hopper. The machine detects when an empty box is presented by the forklift and the hopper discharges crop into the box as it is lowered by the forklift. The process means that the forklift then takes the full box away and returns with an empty box to repeat the process. There is no waiting for the forklift, ensuring a truly continuous box filling process.