The Kimbolton Carrot-Crowning Machine
A crowning achievement in carrot harvesting
Harvey Barraclough
Techlink would like to thank Monty Brown and Terry Hawkins for their contributions to this case study.
Introduction
Growing vegetables is a favourite hobby of New Zealanders, and if, at harvest time, the new potatoes are not all the same size, or the broccoli are not the same shade of green, no one cares too much.
Growing vegetables for sale is a different story, and growing vegetables for the big food processing companies is a demanding exercise. A key attribute of a commercially grown crop is consistency. To achieve this, strict procedures and controls are required. Apples and kiwifruit are good examples of crops with very strict growing procedures, because both are export crops with discerning customers.
In the case of carrots, the preparation of the ground, the variety of carrot, the quality of the seed, and the harvesting methods, are all specified by the processing company contracting for the crop. The procedures have been developed and refined by both growers and processors, to ensure a quality crop and minimum expense to both parties.
Occasionally, significant changes occur, due either to changes in other parts of the system (new materials handling systems in the factory, for instance) or, more rarely, because someone involved in the business sees a way of doing things cheaper, better or quicker. This case study describes the development of one such improvement.
