Potato Harvest with Sackett Potatoes
What would the world do without potato chips?
This is a question Leo Boeglin, Farm Manager of Sackett Potatoes, asks.
Luckily, we don’t have to imagine such a future—because Sackett Potatoes is focused on growing and harvesting potatoes to be sent on to chip producers. With about 2,000 acres of potatoes at their St. Anne, Illinois location alone, they try to ship approximately 650,000 bags of potatoes in a year.
Potatoes are harvested from mid-July through early November, and because Sackett Potatoes is a customer-driven operation, they rely on customer plants to dictate the loads needed every day. They typically ship out 15 semi loads of potatoes per day during harvest, with each semi holding 50,000 lbs. of potatoes.
“They’re not very big tubers, but they don’t have to be,” Leo shared. “At least two inches in diameter can create a great potato chip.”
Potato harvest looks like one synchronized machine, with the grouping of farm equipment traveling between 1 – 1.5 miles per hour to ensure optimal harvest efficiency. “Everyone’s got to work together for sure,” Leo says. “The pull tractor guy has to know what the harvester guy is thinking—and we’re always trying to increase capacity and make less trips.”
The efficiency and communication aren’t limited to the field. Everything has to work in conjunction for Sackett Potatoes to run smoothly; when the potatoes come back from the field, the sorters kick out any potatoes they can’t use. The wash line pre- and pressure-washes, and graders do a final check before the potatoes are loaded onto the trucks to head to factories. “We work cohesively and efficiently to get the job done, day in and day out,” Leo states.
With the need for efficiency ever-present, Sackett Potatoes is always looking to larger and more efficient equipment. “Birkey’s in Hoopeston has always been tremendous in sales and service for us,” Leo says.
In addition to potatoes, they also use corn, soybeans, and wheat as rotation crops. “We can only plant potatoes once in three years for a field to not run into problems… wheat or corn in between can keep down on disease population, as soybeans and potatoes share a lot of diseases,” Leo shares.
They’ve ramped up their operation in the past few years, leading to larger combines for corn and beans, and have chosen to upgrade their tractors to handle the potato equipment. “We need tractors able to creep along with the equipment, even in wet, tough situations, and still get the job done.”
Learn more about Sackett Potatoes here.
