JRO Griffiths & Sons

[Niels]

Jordan: Looking at your picture from the empty potato store, do the ducts run through the width of the storage rather than lengthwise? How high do you stack them, and what variety?

[jordantaylor]

Jordan: Looking at your picture from the empty potato store, do the ducts run through the width of the storage rather than lengthwise? How high do you stack them, and what variety?

the ducts run through two stores width ways, there is a tunnel down the middle that supplies the two stores with air and gassing.

the bulk stores are around 5 metres deep and the box stores are a maximum of 8 boxes high

varieties are marris piper, king edward, lady rosetta

[fred]

No not worked for them,but have worked in the area.

The family farm was near to one of their farms.

[andrewstanford]

really nice pictures farm i work on only does a small bit of tatties only around 80 acres its good to see how other farms do it. do you cart all you tatties with bulk trailers and dump them then grade them into boxes

[Niels]

the ducts run through two stores width ways, there is a tunnel down the middle that supplies the two stores with air and gassing.

the bulk stores are around 5 metres deep and the box stores are a maximum of 8 boxes high

varieties are marris piper, king edward, lady rosetta

I see, thank you. Can't say I know much about the variety's, only Lady Rosetta a little. 5m is quite a height, wouldn't dare going over 4m here. You usually see a complete underground drying floor. Very American idea I think doing it this way.

[jordantaylor]

I see, thank you. Can't say I know much about the variety's, only Lady Rosetta a little. 5m is quite a height, wouldn't dare going over 4m here. You usually see a complete underground drying floor. Very American idea I think doing it this way.

if you look at the first 2 pictures on page 4 you can see the modern vent systems and it sort of gives you an idea of the depth of the potatoes as they are behind the concrete wall in the second picture

[Niels]

Yes I've seen them Jordan. It's not so much the strength of the wall but more 'pressure' spots on the potatoes when you stack 'm that high. Some varietys handle it better than others.

Here's a picture from one of our potato stores. Already a good 20 years old. Still p*ssing about with ducts as well. Shed will hold 750t in total. (If you don't want any other pictures on here you can chuck it off np). This is an old picture but we have since removed the wooden walls and replaced them with some second hand concrete walls we bought for near to nothing. Wood worked well but the supporting strutts were a pain when scooping them up.

[jordantaylor]

no the pics are fine, its good to see how other people store the spuds. as you said storing in bulk can take its toll on the spuds but weve only noticed it in the maris piper spuds but most of our maris pipers are in box stores so it not too bad.

we have thirteen 1000 tonne stores and three 1500 tonne stores with another 1500 tonne store being built next year. the box stores im not sure about but we have 2 box stores with about 250-300 boxes in each

[Niels]

That is plenty of space! We only grow 65 acres of potatoes and 40 acres of onions so don't need as much. We've got a 750t romney shed and 600t bulk stores plus another 950t on hire (which is not filled tops). We only grow two variety's; Melody and Victoria. Would love to have a box store but unaffordable for us. Skin quality is much more important for the UK market than it is in Holland but it is coming more into fashion now. In a difficult year like this they are well worth it though.

Do Griffiths & Sons have all their potatoes lifted yet? I think what is left in the ground now won't survive if weather gets fierce again. Still nearly 150.000 acres to lift in Holland so I read! Does help for prices. Does your boss ever has any foreigners over to show them around or does he like to stick with his company secrets  ?

[jordantaylor]

That is plenty of space! We only grow 65 acres of potatoes and 40 acres of onions so don't need as much. We've got a 750t romney shed and 600t bulk stores plus another 950t on hire (which is not filled tops). We only grow two variety's; Melody and Victoria. Would love to have a box store but unaffordable for us. Skin quality is much more important for the UK market than it is in Holland but it is coming more into fashion now. In a difficult year like this they are well worth it though.

Do Griffiths & Sons have all their potatoes lifted yet? I think what is left in the ground now won't survive if weather gets fierce again. Still nearly 150.000 acres to lift in Holland so I read! Does help for prices. Does your boss ever has any foreigners over to show them around or does he like to stick with his company secrets  ?

we got all 1100 acres finished on the 16th november. we are very glad that we got out temporary store empied before the bad weather hit or we would have lost about 500 tones of spuds.

we dont have  foreigners around the place but we have a secondary school that comes once a year on a business trip to see how the company is run

[Gav836]

Skin quality is much more important for the UK market than it is in Holland but it is coming more into fashion now.

This is only really the case for those who grow for the pre-pack market Niels, those of us who grow for the processing market don't have to worry so much about skin finish/quality on potatoes as the end user never gets to see them unlike the pre-pack trade where everyone likes them to look nice.

Maris Piper is the process markets favourite for chipping but is highly susceptible to common scab hence why some growers like ourselves prefer to grow Pentland Dell in its place, still a good cropper but more resistant to scab

[jordantaylor]

This is only really the case for those who grow for the pre-pack market Niels, those of us who grow for the processing market don't have to worry so much about skin finish/quality on potatoes as the end user never gets to see them unlike the pre-pack trade where everyone likes them to look nice.

Maris Piper is the process markets favourite for chipping but is highly susceptible to common scab hence why some growers like ourselves prefer to grow Pentland Dell in its place, still a good cropper but more resistant to scab

very true, walker only care that the potatoes are of a good enough quality to crisp, thats why we are frying samples 2 times a week from every store untill they want them so they can see what the end product is like

[jordantaylor]

really nice pictures farm i work on only does a small bit of tatties only around 80 acres its good to see how other farms do it. do you cart all you tatties with bulk trailers and dump them then grade them into boxes

we put them straight into the grader from the fields, we have 3 graders and yes they are all hauled with bulk trailers

[Gav836]

very true, walker only care that the potatoes are of a good enough quality to crisp, thats why we are frying samples 2 times a week from every store untill they want them so they can see what the end product is like

Ours are the same as we grow Saturna and Crisps 4 All for Walkers, not sure when the Crisps 4 All are going but I believe the Saturna go out of the store late in the spring. We also grow an equal area of Pentland Dell for McCains which should be going in January.

[Niels]

This is only really the case for those who grow for the pre-pack market Niels, those of us who grow for the processing market don't have to worry so much about skin finish/quality on potatoes as the end user never gets to see them unlike the pre-pack trade where everyone likes them to look nice.

Maris Piper is the process markets favourite for chipping but is highly susceptible to common scab hence why some growers like ourselves prefer to grow Pentland Dell in its place, still a good cropper but more resistant to scab

I know Gav but on the whole eating potatoes with their jackets still on is a very British thing to do I think. Haven't seen it anywhere else, not in mainland Europe at least. Over here they always used to tell that the peelings/jackets were even regarded as a snack by the English? Might be old fashioned I don't know but that's what we think of you  . Over here it really is not done and nobody really has them with the skin still on.

We had some Maris Piper here I think but didn't hear of any being grown here lately. We've got some Russet Burbank, which must be English sounding by the name?, which is grown in small amounts for McCain (MacDonalds). But 9/10 varieties you grow in the UK are originally bred in Holland. Shame the Dutch seed potato business is a disgrace to itself! They blew it with bad quality seed IMO.

I think Folva would be a good potato for the UK market but I haven't heard of any being around yet? Getting very popular over here. It's biggest advantage is that it can grow under any condition without any water. (nearly  ). They proved their weight worth in gold this season.

[jordantaylor]

at the end of the day, think of the waste, if the british public and the companies that sell the products wernt so fussy we would have no waste but due to everything having to be perfect for some reason we do, its a shame as farmers could make so much more money and there would be less need to grow more

[Niels]

Please explain? What waste should we humans eat? I know people in Western Europe prefer the highest quality produce but the second and third grades all find their places in other parts of the world.

[Gav836]

By waste I would guess Jordan means the outgrades, I know usually on our contract anything under 50mm isn't wanted by McCains so get fed to the cattle as normally the cannery boys haven't wanted them either. Last year we had 60tons rejected that had 6% of bruising in a 29 ton load, all they needed was pealing harder and they were fine, we were giving them away for weeks as well as feeding the cows on them.

The average modern housewife seems (not all, but more townie types here) to think that they all come out of the ground perfectly shaped and clean, the supermarkets have a lot to answer for and have created this wasteful culture we live in today.

[Niels]

We are lucky that we deal with some local processors that find a use for any size. But when potatoes are not in demand they'll find anything to talk them down! This year with high demands as it is you can turn in any cr*p and it's fine! Mate of mine tried selling his onions to one firm for a few years but rejected him because he isn't globalgap certified. This year he's got some lovely crop in the shed (one of the very few that have) and suddenly the trader was all over it and a certificate wasn't needed anymore! Of course he told him friendly though urgently where to shove the onions..

Even the half rotten onions find a use nowadays and get exported to Poland where they they are sliced by hand, packed and send back over here!

[Gav836]

I hope they were large onions and the use of a lubricant wasn't offered ;D

That was some of our problem last year, as ours were on contract and at a higher price than the free market they decided to mess us about.

[Light Land]

We had the same thing when I worked for a carrot grower,we exported carrots to Japan and other parts of the world in some paddocks we were only selling 35% of the lifted tonnes of carrots.

[Niels]

I hope they were large onions and the use of a lubricant wasn't offered ;D

That was some of our problem last year, as ours were on contract and at a higher price than the free market they decided to mess us about.

Always happens. As a farmer you always draw the short straw. I've got a Farm Frites factory very near me and in years with abundance potatoes they'd turn them down for rot or something similar and cart them in the factory during the night..

[jordantaylor]

yes what i mean is, most people think they are perfect when lifted but really its the perfect ones that are selected, alot of the general public dont realise the the amount that is wasted. if a potato has a bruise on it or is mis-shaped then its classed as not good, and if younger memebers of society are being brought up with the same view the problem is not going to improve.

its the same with carrots, there were missshaped carrots in the yard that were not going to be used as they were not perfect, seems silly to me to waste them, im not sure what they are going to do with them yet, ill ask

[Niels]

Probably bag them up and sell them for horsefeed? We always use them as bait for the rabbit cages.

You always get a bit of waste, no matter what you try. Bruising should be kept to a minimum of course but I think we still get 1 or 2p for those. Small potatoes (15-35mm) are peeled and sold in packages, 35-50 is sold for consumption in bags, 50-60 for fries and 60+ sometimes sold per one or two in a package to be grilled or the like. I think with the trade as it is a lot more farmers will market their own produce in years to come if they want to earn a living.

[fred]

Probably bag them up and sell them for horsefeed? We always use them as bait for the rabbit cages.

You always get a bit of waste, no matter what you try. Bruising should be kept to a minimum of course but I think we still get 1 or 2p for those. Small potatoes (15-35mm) are peeled and sold in packages, 35-50 is sold for consumption in bags, 50-60 for fries and 60+ sometimes sold per one or two in a package to be grilled or the like. I think with the trade as it is a lot more farmers will market their own produce in years to come if they want to earn a living.

Can everyone do that without supplying the supermarkets?

As for food wastage the general public needs to be either re-educated or made aware of the situation as food  supply in the future is going to become a major problem (from an increased population and pessures imposed on land).

I feel it is a great shame that we are loosing so many smaller farmers and it is getting harder for people that would like to join the industry. The buying power of supermarkets do not help this situation?

I think there should be a cap on a producers physical size to help reverse the trend.