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So you want to take up reaping your harvest , but you ’re not sure where to start ?
Sam Knappbuilt Offbeet Farm , a winter storage farm in upcountry Alaska , from the soil up . Read on for how he break down the options of harvest tools for bothsmall- or big - scaleoperations .
Beyond the Root Cellaris the inspiring guide that turn up that — with a fiddling ingenuity — the savvy grower can successfully prime , harvest , shop , and sell vegetables throughout the off - time of year , providing their family and community the local food they necessitate during winter month .
A potpourri of harvest knives at Offbeet Farm. The ones with bright orange markings—either paint or flagging—are much more likely to be found if lost in the field.Photo courtesy of Phil Knapp.
The follow excerpt is fromBeyond the Root CellarbySam Knapp . It has been adapted for the World Wide Web .
Harvest Tools
While there may be some lap with other vegetable farms , farm that focus on memory crops unremarkably have specialised peter and equipment to make the harvest time easier and quicker . virtually all memory board crops are bulky and operose . Many storage craw grow at least partially underground and must be fag out . Most tool and equipment for harvest either assistance you labor up crops or move them from place to place more efficiently . Some pecker are usual to most farms , whereas others are more specific to either small- or great - scale leaf farms .
As storage farms grow and develop, many are on the search for an equipment sweet spot.
The purpose of machinery is almost always to make tasks quicker , more effective , and more ergonomic to proletarian . automobile follow with cost , some obvious and some not , and any Fannie Merritt Farmer should estimate cost savings when moot a new piece of machinery .
Machines and equipment should match not only your budget and scale, but also your goals and values.
cut tools are found on most every farm , disregardless of size . These are bare knives and pruners for cut and shave crops in the theater . tongue styles are a personal choice . For example , some farmers favor lettuce- or broccoli - style harvest knives — which have sharpened and feather - off or rounded tips — for cabbages .
A motley of harvest knives at Offbeet Farm . The one with smart orange markings — either key or flagging — are much more potential to be found if lost in the theatre of operations . Photo courtesy of Phil Knapp .
These permit workers to swerve through shuck with a promote motion that utilize the shoulder rather than the articulatio radiocarpea . Many farmers also prefer pruning shears over knives for harvesting wintertime squash and pumpkins . Even if stems are n’t corked , there ’s no enjoin what you might hit after trim down through a resistive squash vine stalking ( another squeeze , irrigation air , or worse ) .
With both knives and trimmer , it ’s important to keep them sharp , and I unremarkably transport a sharpener in my back pocket . tart knives and pruners are safe to use than dull ace , and they make cleaner cuts less likely to draw in pathogens in entrepot .
It ’s also a good idea to attach vivid colours to these small and easy - lost tools!Whether that means spray blusher , tape , or flagging , you ’ll thank yourself for doing this when a tool suddenly disappears .
There are several tools that help loosen soil so that belowground crops are easier to pull by hand later.
At the bridge player ordered series , there are bothdigging forks and broadforks . Digging forks , also foretell spading forks , are heavy tools for many chore , from loosening carrot to dig potatoes . They ’re comfortable to use and inexpensive , but they ’re comparatively boring .
Broadforks are a faster hand - shell option . They’re commonly two to three times wider than traditional excavation forking , but they often cost well more . Although you could expend steady broadforks for harvesting , the harvest - specific broadforks are skillful . Their tines are near together — to cut the risk of tines dislocate through the dirt and negative crops — and narrower , so they ’re idle and easier to push into the basis .
The go - to dick on larger , tractor - scale farms are undercutter bars , also call layer lifters . These are simple , relatively cheap implements mount to the three - point hitch on full - sized tractors . The “ bar ” is pulled through the soil at depth of 12 to 16 inches to sneak and loosen the soil above ( hence the name ) .
Many farms without more specialized harvesting equipment go undercutter bars beneath their deep - rooted craw to make hired man - pulling easier and quicker . I ’ve also heard of farms using subsoilers to loosen soil around harvest like ail , but undercutter bar are far more common . unluckily , two - wheeled tractor do n’t have enough exercising weight or adhesive friction to pull undercutter bar through the soil . Many have adjudicate it , and many have break down .
Tractor-Run Harvesters
Both for two - wheeled and full - sized tractor , there are more specific harvesting implements design for single or multiple crops , though there are fewer selection for two - wheeled tractors . Both BCS and Aldo Biagioli sell relatively cheap root - digging plows for two - wheel tractors , but the ecumenical consensus is that these apply mainly to Irish potato . You ’ll need to lend weight to the twowheeled tractors — usually wheel weight — and the diggers go only as deep as the soil has recently been turn .
The potato harvest at Open Door Farm in Cedar Grove , North Carolina , attend by a single - run-in potato digger . pic courtesy of Jillian Mickens .
crop such as sweet potatoes , carrot , and daikon radishes are often rooted too deeply and are damage by these diggers , whereas more shallowly settle crops such as beets , turnips , and onion plant do n’t require enough stain - loosening to justify such a cock . These implement might be utilitarian for garlic and sunchokes if driven alongside the row .
There are also power takeoff - power potato diggers for paseo - behind tractors , but they , too , have a depth limit . The manufacturers suggest that you plant potatoes shallowly and trust on hilling to effectively use these harvesters .
Potato diggers for full - sized tractor are some of the most popular harvesting follow out out there . They ’re relatively cheap and unproblematic to run and repair , often lacking any hydraulic element . depot farmers use them for Solanum tuberosum , of track , but they ’re also effective at harvesting sweet-scented potatoes and Jerusalem artichoke .
Most farmers I ’ve talked to apply Spedo - sword digger . The simplest and chintzy model is a one - course shaker , which sieves out filth and lifts tubers to the airfoil . It ’s similar to the walk - behind digger but can dig up to 12 inches into unhilled grime . That said , both weeds and wet ground run to cross this mode of reaper .
As one Fannie Farmer I spoke with report , the oscillate diggers shinny to divide grease cluster and terminate up fade through sections of wet or weedy soil without really sifting out the spud . Spedo ( and other companies ) also trade chain - style diggers , which use chain conveyors to off soil from around tubers before posit them on the soil aerofoil .
Chain power shovel are more expensive but can sometimes harvest multiple rows at once and work in a wider variety of grunge conditions than shaker - manner diggers . There are also bigger chain - style harvesters that integrate features such as sort out area for workers and the power to carry and fill bulk palette bins .
Carrots dangle from the harvest belt of a Scott Viner on Food Farm in Wrenshall , Minnesota . exposure courtesy of Janaki Fisher - Merritt .
Scott Viner Harvesters
The FMC Scott Viner ( unremarkably called the Scott Viner ) is by far the most pop ascendant reaper among small-scale - scale storage farmers . Every storage farmer I talked to who mechanically harvested their carrots , beets , and other roots either had used or was currently using a Scott Viner . in the first place design for beet harvesting in the 1930s , Scott Viners are used today for harvesting carrots , common beet , radishes , parsnip , turnips , and even swede , depending on modifications to the car .
Their popularity is due in part to their functionality , but also to their terms . Because they ’re no longer manufactured and most are old , they ’re relatively tinny as far as implements go . The newest car I could find for sale was made in the 1970s .
That order , they ’re comparatively simple machines , and if a granger is uncoerced to replace hydraulic lines , lubricating oil or supercede armorial bearing , and resurface rusty metal , older Scott Viners do their jobs admirably . They’re also versatile and can be modified to work within a specific farm ’s systems .
Scott Viners work by scarper a digging shoe beneath a quarrel of roots — let ’s say cultivated carrot for example . At the same clip , a set of rubber belt lift carrot tops just above the crowns and airlift them from the background . The belts run backward and up , the carrots swing by their height , toward a tongue that cuts the tops and drops the carrot onto a chain conveyor . The tops are shoot out the back of the machine while the roots are transmit out , the stain bouncing through the chains . Some Fannie Merritt Farmer force a wagon alongside the harvester for the carrots to cast off into containers , while others modify the conveyor to spit carrot out behind the simple machine .
Scott Viners and similar harvesters can turbocharge the rate of harvesting for deep - rout crops like carrots . Several James Leonard Farmer report that one fast worker can harvest between 200 and 250 pounds of carrots per minute on a clean bed that ’s been loosened by an undercutter bar . With a well - go Scott Viner , the typical pace increases to 2,500 to 3,000 pounds per hr .
However , execute the Scott Viner might expect three to four the great unwashed : one to drive the tractor , one to operate the Scott Viner , one to funnel carrot into bins , and one to rend a wagon alongside the machine . Scott Viners also demand comparatively unobjectionable and dry fields . skunk tend to block up the top mechanism and can make it unmanageable to see and align the machine to the row . The simple machine also has fuss stay aligned and draw in etymon from heavy , wet soils . Many farmers running Scott Viners or similar machines shift their harvesting dates to increase their chances for ironic weather condition .
There are young machines similar to FMC Scott Viners that take few mass to run . One popular example is from the Canadian company Univerco . Their smallest root harvester can be operated by a single soul who drives the tractor and operates the machine while the implement fills bulk pallet bins . These machine can also unlade full bins with a hydraulic platform lift . Although such motorcar are more expensive than Scott Viners , they typically run with few mechanical issues and have lower labor costs to operate .
Materials Handling at Harvest
harvest home is normally the first point in the storage process when fabric manipulation becomes an issue . reposition crops are generally bulky , heavier , and less valuable by system of weights than their newly - market cousin . To be a successful memory board granger , you need to be capable to rise and move heavy object from blank space to localize cursorily and safely .
I like to think of the process of moving crops out of the field and into storage like a river system.
Furthest upstream are the modest drainage and tributary amass body of water from low swales and ravines . These are like veggies passing through the helping hand of prole as they glean small section of the field of force . As piss moves downhill , the modest streams join together to form larger river . These are like veggies from single surgical incision of the battleground combine together for processing steps such as washing or curing . Eventually , more and more tributaries join to form large and powerful river that drain full watersheds . After processing , we aim veg inside our big bulk containers and funnel them inside our storage spaces where they stay for week to months . What starts as a trickle becomes a mighty river of veggie collected in one place .
There are two main pieces to the puzzle of materials handling at harvest (and in general): the containers used to hold crops and the equipment used to move them.
container and manipulation equipment are linked ; the container you use influence your alternative for palm equipment , and vice versa . This relationship also extends to the equipment and method used for processing steps before storage .
The harvest go-cart at Offbeet Farm is the main mode we move veggies from the field to the laundry station . picture courtesy of Phil Knapp .
Let’s start with options for materials-handling equipment.
At the hand plate are things like wheelbarrows and carts . At Offbeet Farm , we mostly use a modified garden pushcart to transport veggies from the field to the dry wash post . This allow us to move about 200 hammering at a time with minimal crusade , so long as load are well balanced .
Carts and wheelbarrow unremarkably have limitations for both the weighting and tallness ( when stacking multiple container ) because the user tippytoe them at an angle in addition to lifting them , and this is especially true when using them on hills . There are some groundbreaking designs for well - balanced and ergonomic carts , such as those popularized by Josh Volk of Slow Hand Farm .
Small trailers pulled by walk - behind tractor , ATVs , lawnmowers , pickup hand truck , and full - sized tractor are good options for carry larger , gruelling load than is potential with hired man carts . However , trailers are less nimble than cart , requiring more space to turn around and more skill to run in verso . Pickup trucks , or any vehicle with beds , are also with child options for transmit veggies out of the field . Many farms outfit their tractors or skid steers with forks to either move orotund pallets or bulk bank identification number throughout the theater of operations or to stack the bins on trailers for cart .
Containers for harvesting and transporting veggies are usually either very small or very large.
At the small-scale last , many farm apply 5 - gallon buckets or bulb crate for harvesting . That ’s because these containers are relatively garish and easy moved , stored , and raise . I in person recommend for using small harvest container because it places physical limits on how much you could repeal at any one time . Even some large storage farm use 5 - gallon bucket as direct harvest time container and change the veg into bombastic containers by and by .
large harvest container are usually bulk , pallet - sized bins such as charge plate macrobins . Workers can glean instantly into bulk bin if the bins are aim through the field on forks , or they can empty littler container into nearby bulk bins . These are the go - to containers for farms using mechanical harvesters and fourth dimension - save equipment like harvest conveyors . Some farmers use the same container for both crop and storage , while others have specific container for each chore .
While your harvest containers will influence your options for handling equipment and vice versa, this relationship isn’t equal.
I suggest prioritize handling equipment when considering upgrade . Larger and unassailable treatment equipment will save you sentence by reducing the act of stumble need to remove your crops from the champaign , and , most significantly , big handling equipment can accommodate any container size .
This is n’t honest in the other direction ; large container are n’t compatible with small - scale handling tools . Additionally , wield equipment acclivity are often less expensive than container ascent . This is especially true when purchase bulk memory bins , which can be several hundred dollars each . Of course , upgrading both containers and treatment tools simultaneously is fine , but if you ’re limited by your budget , buy good handle equipment first .
Harvest Conveyors
harvest time conveyors are utile for more than just storage crop but are very popular among farmers growing lots of cabbage or winter squash . The machines consist of manna from heaven arms extending 20 feet or more off a harvest time trailer with a conveyor smash that run crops from the field to the prevue . Usually , several workers harvest along theater of operations row as the conveyor moves slowly down the orbit . One spare mortal is required to start the conveyor and direct veggies come off it into containers . The beauty of this scheme is that actor do n’t require to transport ( or toss , as many farm work party do ) squelch or clams head between the rows and the trailer or containers .
Recommended Reads
Starter Kit Tools : 9 Vital Tools for Micro - Farming
Ca n’t get the Perfect Garden Tools ? Make Your Own
Beyond the Root Cellar
The Market Gardeners Guide to farm and Storing veg for Off - Season Sales and Food Security
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