The harvest for many varieties of Wisconsin potatoes is in full swing. Tractors can be seen in many areas of the state, digging up the earth and collecting the crops buried below.
On a 140-acre field southwest of Stevens Point, rows and rows of dirt-covered russets called Goldrush are ready for the picking. Jim Okray, vice president of farm operations at Okray Family Farms, says it’s been a good year for the 1,800-acre potato operation.
“We had a really nice growing season,” says Okray. “We had rainfall about every five to seven days, it seemed like it was not too hot this year. There wasn’t any real drought.”
One team of tractors unearths the potatoes. “We have two windrowers, and they are each digging four rows apiece. They put those potatoes into the furrow in front of the harvester,” says Okray.
The harvester follows behind. In all, 12 rows of potatoes are collected at the same time. The potatoes travel up and over a chain-linked conveyer belt and into trucks traveling alongside.
“They can fill up one of these trucks in about five minutes; it doesn't take very long,” says Okray.
Once the potatoes are harvested, many of them are hustled off into storage. The Okrays have eight warehouses throughout the region. The one south of Plover is one of the smaller facilities, but can still hold about 120 truckloads of potatoes.
“They’re put into these bins. They’re all temperature-controlled,” says Okray. “They need air, so they get cooled down. It’s important that they’re cool. They’re kept cool, so there isn’t any sprouting of them or any rot.”
But not all potatoes go into 40-degree storage.
“These were probably in the field this morning,” says Mark Finnessy of Okray Family Farms, referring to freshly washed potatoes racing up a conveyor belt at the Okrays’ packing shed in Plover. Workers sort the spuds and send them down the line.
“This plant runs five days a week—five and a half [if we need to run] on Saturdays,” says Finnessy. “We’ll run about eight- to 12-hour shifts during the week.”
By mid-morning, these russets are ready to go. The bags will be shipped mainly to grocery stores east of the Mississippi River.
“Russets are very all-purpose,” says Finnessy. “You can bake them, fry them, mash them, smash them. They do a lot of everything.”
Meanwhile, harvesters continue to dig and dig. Even with a projection of 90 million pounds of potatoes, Okray says this season’s yield is considered average.
“September [was] pretty wet,” he says. “So our harvesting operation is a little bit behind schedule, maybe a week. So we’re hoping for a really nice October, and we can get this crop done in about three weeks.”
The USDA ranks Wisconsin third in the nation when it comes to potato production. Idaho leads the way, followed by Washington.
Source: WLUK Fox 11 News