Brothers Matthew and Henry Prichard, fifth-generation farmers from Cudgen in New South Wales, are developing new harvesting technology aimed at reducing damage to sweet potatoes during handling and post-harvest processing. The equipment, currently under development, seeks to minimize bruising and scratches that often occur between field harvest and supermarket delivery.
"The sweet potato is super sensitive – the skin's soft, more like a fruit than a carrot or a normal potato," said farm managing director Matthew Prichard. "You've got to handle it with care or you get problems."
The Prichards manage Cudgen Road Farms, located in the Northern Rivers region, where they specialize in sweet potato production. Their Gold Variety Orleans crop supplies retail chains across Australia. Matthew said the area's conditions support production. "We're good at growing them in this area," he said. "The soil's right, the climate's not too hot and not too cold here, and it's frost-free."
In recent years, prolonged wet weather has presented challenges. "It's been really wet for about three or four years straight," Matthew said. "It's very difficult to grow sweet potatoes under those conditions, but we managed to do it thanks to the great soil that we have."
The main on-farm issue now is product loss caused by mechanical and manual handling. Sweet potatoes are vulnerable to impact damage during harvesting, sorting, and washing. "Bumps and bruises and scratches can either get bacterial infections or they get dehydrated and look a bit black," Matthew explained. "The only way to stop that is on-farm."
He said the team has identified multiple points in the process where tubers are damaged. "They all want to zoom out of the bin at the same time – bang, bump, crash. They rub against each other and cause skin damage. Then there are little bits and pieces of damage that can happen through the washing process on brushes."
To address this, the farm is developing new harvesting and post-harvest systems with support from a US$290,000 grant through the Coles Nurture Fund. The project includes designing machinery to reduce manual handling, introducing "soft tipping" mechanisms to lessen impact damage, and refining washing techniques.
"The project's designed to deliver better quality on shelf to Coles and Coles customers," Matthew said. "We're probably not going to get everything right, but we're going to have a crack."
Coles' chief commercial and sustainability officer Anna Croft said Cudgen Road Farms is one of 119 small and medium-sized businesses to receive a share of more than US$26 million since 2015.
For the Prichard brothers, reducing on-farm losses remains the key goal. "You get satisfaction from growing a good crop," Matthew said. "That's what keeps you going."
Source: The Daily Telegraph
