This article appears in the March 2017 issue of Potato Grower.
Over the past 20 years, Spudnik Equipment Company, based in Blackfoot, Idaho, has made a name for itself as perhaps the leader in manufacturing field equipment for the potato industry. Spudnik’s signature red harvesters, planters, crop carts and eliminators can be found on potato operations across North America.
Each January, usually in conjunction with the Idaho Potato Conference in nearby Pocatello, Spudnik hosts an open house for growers and others in the potato industry to tour the company’s plant and see and learn more about the company’s latest equipment. While Spudnik of course has standard models of every one of its machines, 87 percent of the equipment the company manufactured and sold in 2016 was custom-made to fit specific growers’ needs.
“It used to be that farmers were looking for more productivity every day,” said Spudnik sales manager Corey Steidley. “Today, growers need more productivity per hour, not just per day. As potato production and efficiency has increased, we’ve tried to be a driver of that. We want to grow; we’re going to grow.”
Following is a sampling of what Spudnik showed off at this year’s open house on Jan. 17.
Photos courtesy Spudnik Equipment Company
AirSep Technology
The AirSep eliminator uses high-volume air to remove debris from the flow of product, eliminating debris both going in and coming out of storage. It is available in 48- 72- and 105-inch widths.
AirSep technology has also been integrated into Spudnik harvesters, with a separation unit for gently separating foreign material and leaving it in the field at harvest time.
Crop Cart
Spudnik’s 4835 model Crop Cart has a 35-ton capacity and an unloading speed of more than 10 tons per minute, with multi-crop boom options for potatoes, sugarbeets, grains, carrots, corn, fertilizer and several others. The smaller, more maneuverable 4820 model has a capacity of 20 tons.
Harvesters
Spudnik’s direct-load harvesters are not a new concept. But the 6600 series harvesters’ intake and newly designed, steep secondary make the machines unique.
New for the 2017 season, Spudnik’s 5744 specialty harvester is specifically designed for the growing specialty potato sector, where tubers are generally considerably smaller than in more traditional operations.
Planting Equipment
Engineers at Spudnik have worked with researchers and growers to develop many different bed planter configurations in an effort to meet every grower’s needs.