Potato harvesting.

[AgriJock]

Illinois farmer I’ve read your post a bit more thoroughly now. Your right, potato data is a bit harder to find, and you need to bear in mind that an average yield figure is just that -an average- some farmers will achieve much more or much less. I don’t agree with you about header sizes, your wrong I’m afraid. The amount of crop that comes of a 100 acre field is the same no matter which header size you use. It just takes a different amount of time to harvest it. Bigger headers don’t guarantee speed anyway. You can put a large header on a small combine, but it will have to crawl along to process it all

Ps, I’m talking about yield - not total production like you’ve mentioned. Total production is irrelevant.

[UncleRico]

Illinois farmer I’ve read your post a bit more thoroughly now. Your right, potato data is a bit harder to find, and you need to bear in mind that an average yield figure is just that -an average- some farmers will achieve much more or much less. I don’t agree with you about header sizes, your wrong I’m afraid. The amount of crop that comes of a 100 acre field is the same no matter which header size you use. It just takes a different amount of time to harvest it. Bigger headers don’t guarantee speed anyway. You can put a large header on a small combine, but it will have to crawl along to process it all

Ps, I’m talking about yield - not total production like you’ve mentioned. Total production is irrelevant.

No, you’re wrong, you don’t put a bigger head on a small machine. The same with potatoes, everything is bigger, you’re not ramming 16 rows of potatoes through a two row harvester, it’s made for more volume. Not to mention soybeans tend to run a lot harder through a combine than small grains which our machines see a lot of so I’m not sure where you get this theory

[AgriJock]

Illinois farmer I’ve read your post a bit more thoroughly now. Your right, potato data is a bit harder to find, and you need to bear in mind that an average yield figure is just that -an average- some farmers will achieve much more or much less. I don’t agree with you about header sizes, your wrong I’m afraid. The amount of crop that comes of a 100 acre field is the same no matter which header size you use. It just takes a different amount of time to harvest it. Bigger headers don’t guarantee speed anyway. You can put a large header on a small combine, but it will have to crawl along to process it all

Ps, I’m talking about yield - not total production like you’ve mentioned. Total production is irrelevant.

No, you’re wrong, you don’t put a bigger head on a small machine. The same with potatoes, everything is bigger, you’re not ramming 16 rows of potatoes through a two row harvester, it’s made for more volume. Not to mention soybeans tend to run a lot harder through a combine than small grains which our machines see a lot of so I’m not sure where you get this theory

You’ve literally just agreed with what I said about the headers. Bigger header = more volume for the same speed, but the combine can only process so much, therefore you have to go slower if you saturate it. You guys can run large headers relative to ours combines of the same sizes because the volume (yield) is less. That’s the point.

It works the same with the large spudnik setups you use. The yields are smaller. If you used that in the uk on a 50-70 tonne an acre crop it wouldnt be able to cope with the volume of potatoes (yield) unless you were absolutely crawling, so there would be no advantage to using it.

My family run a large (by uk standards) arable and potato farm and I have worked as a new Holland and grimme technician just to qualify my knowledge.

[AgriJock]

It also depends what the crops intended for. Most spudnik videos I’ve seen tend to be bulk loading into large trailers, so they can go faster, we wouldn’t do that here unless they were going to be sold as animal feed as we try to avoid mechanical damage for the supermarket crops. We load straight into 1 ton boxes, and try to cushion the potatoes as they fall.

[Illinois Farmer]

Not everything is a competition guys. It’s just data. Your own data actually.


https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/cir ... uction.pdf

Did you not read anything I wrote? Also usa is close or better on yeild in everything but wheat and I explain the wheat already. If you look at total production, us double or quadruple everything then the uk hence why we need the bigger equipment. Also a 60 ft header will bring more material than a 15 ft. Doesn't matter the yeild.

[AgriJock]

Not everything is a competition guys. It’s just data. Your own data actually.


https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/cir ... uction.pdf

Did you not read anything I wrote? Also usa is close or better on yeild in everything but wheat and I explain the wheat already. If you look at total production, us double or quadruple everything then the uk hence why we need the bigger equipment. Also a 60 ft header will bring more material than a 15 ft. Doesn't matter the yeild.

You gentleman are very defensive. It’s not personal, it’s just maths. I did read it, but your confusing yourself. Just look at the USDA report, it contradicts everything you say.

https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/cir ... uction.pdf

For 2022/23

Yield reports, metric tons per hectare.

Wheat
Uk 8.59/USA3.13

Barley
UK 6.69/USA 3.85

Oats
UK 5.79/USA 2.33

Rapeseed
UK 3.74/USA 1.98

Our yields are roughly double, like I originally said.

Unfortunately potato data seems a bit wishy washy, I think partly because there’s such variety in growth and variety.

Total production is irrelevant in this discussion. Whatever size equipment you used the total will be the same for a given field.

I don’t understand why you can’t see header size is irrelevant when talking yields either. A crop of 100 ton per acre yield in a 1 acre field will yield 100 tons. It doesn’t matter if you cut them by hand or with a 100 mile wide header, it will yield 100 tons.

[AgriJock]

If you watch the YouTube spudnik video with 16 rows being harvested with 4 windrowers and two diggers (so 8 rows each) then compare it to a video of uk potato harvesting two rows you will quite quickly realise that we are moving a much bigger yield on average.

It’s not a personal attack on USA farming gents (which I respect and think is awesome by the way) it’s just that our soil quality and yields are on average better, I am merely pointing out that we do it differently and it’s not just down to field size and road width.

[UncleRico]

It also depends what the crops intended for. Most spudnik videos I’ve seen tend to be bulk loading into large trailers, so they can go faster, we wouldn’t do that here unless they were going to be sold as animal feed as we try to avoid mechanical damage for the supermarket crops. We load straight into 1 ton boxes, and try to cushion the potatoes as they fall.

That’s exactly how they harvest for supermarkets. You’re completely off base. They’re live bottom trailers and they sort the potatoes for different things at the warehouses. You can’t bs your way through this here. With combines you’re also off base as well. Those big machines need a decent sized head to feed the thresher. A good yielding soybean crop will work a combine more than any wheat crop you can throw at it. As far as wheat Illinois farmer is right. Take arizona for an example that’s just one state in the U.S. for those who don’t know. Its average yield is nearly three times as high as the us average. Which would also exceed any country on the list plus it’s larger than many of them as well. The amount absolutely matters in this case as well. That’s why sporting records have a minimum amount of plays or attempts or games required.

[AgriJock]

What on earth are you talking about, my goodness. At least have some respect. I’m not calling your opinions ‘BS’, I think you’ve lost focus on what this is about. We don’t bulk load potatoes on our farm. It’s just not how we do it, or anyone else I know. It’s not BS, it’s just fact. We farm differently due to a variety of factors.

I’m quite familiar with how a harvester works, thanks, and no, big combines don’t need big headers, they will work with smaller ones just fine, when yields (volume) is lower like on your farm you can get away with a bigger header. If we ran a bigger header on our harvester we would have to go slower or the harvester would choke. It’s really not that hard to understand. If I took the same machine to your farm where the yield is lower I could run faster with a bigger header probably. Why you get all upset at this information is beyond me.

Arizona……big yields, interesting yes…….still…..
The world record wheat yield is held by a Lincolnshire farmer in England, UK. Previously it was held by a farmer in New Zealand.

[UncleRico]

What on earth are you talking about, my goodness. At least have some respect. I’m not calling your opinions ‘BS’, I think you’ve lost focus on what this is about. We don’t bulk load potatoes on our farm. It’s just not how we do it, or anyone else I know. It’s not BS, it’s just fact. We farm differently due to a variety of factors.

I’m quite familiar with how a harvester works, thanks, and no, big combines don’t need big headers, they will work with smaller ones just fine, when yields (volume) is lower like on your farm you can get away with a bigger header. If we ran a bigger header on our harvester we would have to go slower or the harvester would choke. It’s really not that hard to understand. If I took the same machine to your farm where the yield is lower I could run faster with a bigger header probably. Why you get all upset at this information is beyond me.

Arizona……big yields, interesting yes…….still…..
The world record wheat yield is held by a Lincolnshire farmer in England, UK. Previously it was held by a farmer in New Zealand.

As for the other stuff I’ve made my point there’s no need to argue with someone who refuses to understand I run my machines through your average yields in parts of my field, that’s how averages work it doesn’t plug and have issues. I’m not sure who fed you the line but whatever.

Arizona is an interesting point Indeed, it’s roughly 20,000 square miles bigger than the uk. This plays into Illinois farmers point.

I’d also like to point out that the field of wheat the record was set in is the size of a few wet spots on fields I can see out my window. And lastly according to the United Nations in 2021 the us produced 11 more tons per hectare of potatoes than the uk and 4 more than Ireland and were only topped by Zealand by 1 ton but we’re too dog in 2020 (as per the food and agricultural organization of the United Nations)

[Illinois Farmer]

What on earth are you talking about, my goodness. At least have some respect. I’m not calling your opinions ‘BS’, I think you’ve lost focus on what this is about. We don’t bulk load potatoes on our farm. It’s just not how we do it, or anyone else I know. It’s not BS, it’s just fact. We farm differently due to a variety of factors.

I’m quite familiar with how a harvester works, thanks, and no, big combines don’t need big headers, they will work with smaller ones just fine, when yields (volume) is lower like on your farm you can get away with a bigger header. If we ran a bigger header on our harvester we would have to go slower or the harvester would choke. It’s really not that hard to understand. If I took the same machine to your farm where the yield is lower I could run faster with a bigger header probably. Why you get all upset at this information is beyond me.

Arizona……big yields, interesting yes…….still…..
The world record wheat yield is held by a Lincolnshire farmer in England, UK. Previously it was held by a farmer in New Zealand.

I don't think you are understanding. Yes you can go faster in a lower yeild spot then a larger, but if you running a 60 ft head cs a 15ft head, you would need 4 times the amount of less yeild to be equivalent. You are also right it is simple math that you aren't grasping. Also my wheat did over 100 bu/ac, so I did as well or better than most of the uk. I ran a 25ft in a s660 combine. That's big on uk standard and it is small. I know guys that did over 150 with a 40 ft draper in a s790 combine. The us is so big and massive it is hard to look at average yeild across the whole nation because the land varies so much. Also you forgot from your "facts" that us had a better yeild in rye, corn, soybeans, POTATOES, etc then uk.
Also watch welker farms youtube. They have big headers with a huge amount of land to combine wheat. There is no way they would get down in time with small uk combines. It seriously boils down to your fields are too small and your roads are too narrow.

[AgriJock]

Gents, I feel like we could probably bicker about this forever and get nowhere.
Lets just agree on one thing, we all farm to our own situations and we all farm well.

We all know the fields in USA are generally huge and you need big machinery to get it done, nobody disputes that. We are limited more by uneven fields than anything else, so we cant go too wide combine harvester header wise. When I was a boy 12-18ft was the norm, now its 30ft. Things move on.

I fear we have strayed from the original point, and thats the potato windrowing setups and their relevance to the UK.
On that point I stand by what I said, regardless of the roads and field sizes we couldn't use a setup like that, I don't think its intended for maincrop yields like ours. If there was an advantage to using something like that we would already be doing it in europe.
The only farms I know that use windrowers use them for salad or early potatoes which are much smaller and they dump one bed into the harvesters bed, so thats 4 rows. They don't use them for maincrop as it woud be way too much for the harvester to cope with, and the mechanical damage would be huge.

I’d also like to point out that the field of wheat the record was set in is the size of a few wet spots on fields I can see out my window. And lastly according to the United Nations in 2021 the us produced 11 more tons per hectare of potatoes than the uk and 4 more than Ireland and were only topped by Zealand by 1 ton but we’re too dog in 2020 (as per the food and agricultural organization of the United Nations)

Interesting Rico, I'll need to look into that in detail later, perhaps my info is wrong then, I've always been led to believe our average yields are greater for almost everything, and the data backs it up for Wheat/Barley/OSR etc so I wonder why its different for potatoes - the detail will be in what they are used for, and what variety is mainly grown. Perhaps they are larger potatoes I don't know.We do grow a lot of fresh potatoes, salads and earlies.

As for that record field being small by your standards, I can see that, but I think its still impressive, imagine then if you will that your whole field was yielding 17.96t/ha, I would think you would be very happy!

I think China and India are now the biggest potato producers.

Happy farming chaps, lets keep it as a friendly discussion!

[UncleRico]

Interesting Rico, I'll need to look into that in detail later, perhaps my info is wrong then, I've always been led to believe our average yields are greater for almost everything, and the data backs it up for Wheat/Barley/OSR etc so I wonder why its different for potatoes - the detail will be in what they are used for, and what variety is mainly grown. Perhaps they are larger potatoes I don't know.We do grow a lot of fresh potatoes, salads and earlies.

As for that record field being small by your standards, I can see that, but I think its still impressive, imagine then if you will that your whole field was yielding 17.96t/ha, I would think you would be very happy!

I think China and India are now the biggest potato producers.

Happy farming chaps, lets keep it as a friendly discussion!

If I had to guess I would say the lack of space plays into it mostly. With limited acres getting an entire field to a good state for drainage or drought is much more feasible. Where as in comparison I would run a much larger field that will have chunks the same size as your field that can average the same as yours but then on the other side may average much lower due to it being a low spot or a high ridge. This is what brings the average down. These spots are still profitable and can be the most profitable in a drought or wet year but on an average year bring the overall yield average down. That’s not to say my machine can’t clip along just fine through high yield areas. That’s actually precisely what I’m trying to convey. My field may average lower but I very well may have harvest more high yielding crop in it than one of yours. Thereby proving the point I’m trying to make regarding larger equipment handling larger yields.

[CowsGoMoo]

we also don't really measure crop yield in tons per hectare either. sorry, tonnes per hectare.

[hudsoler]

Just went onto Spudnik website and the equipment they have is exactly what I’m after. Especially the 6 row windrows. Looking at Uk equip though we seem to be stuck with 1.5m. I guess the USA do it on a bigger scale than us and cater for it. Oh well I guess I’ll have to stick to a 1.5m machine until I can afford a self propelled one. The Collosus is an awesome bit of kit and I’ve used it before but I feel it just makes it a bit too easy. Thanks for the info

With respect to uk equipment - our crop yields are much higher, (tonnes per hectare getaway shootout) that’s why our equipment is different. Your typical potato digger setup in the USA is wider but they are picking up less potatoes. If we ran diggers and windrowers like that in the uk the main central harvester would be choked after about 10 meters.

People don’t appreciate crop yields when looking at US equipment vs European. Typically European yields of wheat, barley, oats, OSR etc are roughly double that of the US, so the harvesting equipment has to process double the amount.

I truly appreciate you sharing your insights on this. It's valuable to understand the nuances and reasoning behind equipment choices in different agricultural landscapes. I'm curious to learn more about how these differences in yield influence other aspects of the farming process, such as seed varieties, soil management, and even storage and processing requirements.

Do you have any further insights or examples you'd be willing to share about how UK farming adapts to its higher yields? I'm eager to learn more and broaden my understanding of this fascinating aspect of agriculture.