P.E.I's smartest potato making rounds
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The Smart Spud, a unique wireless impact detection device, which was developed by Charlottetown-based Sensor Wireless Inc.
When potato harvesting begins for Food Trust producers, retired engineer Tony Glencross has a special job. He's the man who's been hired by FoodTrustto make sure these precious potatoes don't have to put up with life's bumps and bruises along the way. Armed with a unique home-grown technology known at the "Smart Spud" and a palm-size PC, Glencrossis able to track the progress of potatoes from the moment they leave the ground until they make their way to the packing houses. The Smart Spud is a unique wireless impact detection device developed by Charlottetown-based Sensor Wireless Inc.
This unassuming potato Ðshaped unit is simply put in the ground for pick up by windrowers, or placed on harvester conveyors with the regular crop. Sensor Wireless provided the technology to FoodTrustat a discount. As Wayd McNally, president and CEO says, "Being an island company, we wanted to give back a little to the industry for its support of Smart Spud over the years." But don't let its lowly appearance fool you. While it might look and feel like a potato, it's also got the brains to provide Glencross with an instant picture of how muchimpact potatoes have to put up with on their journey. And that piece of information is something that can have a huge impact on crop quality. "I start with the Smart Spud in front of the windrowers," says Glencross. "Then it's put on the harvester." After several "runs" through the equipment in the field, he says he knows everything there is to know about how much jostling the potatoes go through and what farmers need to do to improve it. "If we find a spot in the harvester that is giving an impact greater than 10 or 15 Gs, we have to look at what we can do to fix that," he says. "Sometimes it just means a simple adjustment. With some simple adjustment to belt speeds for example, in some cases we can bring damage to the potatoes down from about 1-2 per cent."
FoodTrust producer Stephen Visser of J& S Visser Produce in Orwell Cove says he's been amazed by the results that Glencross and the Smart Spud can deliver. "I've never had anyone come out to do these types of testing on our machinery. I had no idea how much capacity and quality how much could be affected with some minor adjustments. Not only did it help improve his quality and yield, it managed to save him a few thousand dollars in equipment replacement in the process. Once Glencross arrived on the scene to put Smart Spud through the paces, Visserreports, "We decreased harvester damage by about five percent Ð and all we had to do was decrease the drops from one belt to another and synchronize some belt speeds. Before Tony came, I thought I was looking at about $5000 in equipment repairs or possibly even harvester replacement. All it really cost me was a few hours of my time and a couple or sprockets."
The Smart Spud program is just one of many quality initiatives FoodTrustprovides to its partners. "One of our foundations for serving the consumer is high quality food, and therefore our farmers must live up to the most stringent standards," says Colleen Walton, brand standards co-ordinator for FoodTrust. "As we went through the previous year, we noticed there was a lot of damage that could have been prevented. That's what led to the initiative with Tony to assess equipment and support our farmers in improving their yields of FoodTrustquality potatoes." "It's not a magic wand type of thing," she adds. "It's finding out how equipment and processes can be adjusted to yield the best quality products." Given the success of the first round of Smart Spud visits, Walton says FoodTrustanticipates it will run the program again for the 2005 harvest, as well as extend the Smart Spud assessment to packing and shipping functions. "After all, quality improvement is a long-term commitment for all of us. And that's important to consumers. FoodTrust'svalue chain approach to marketing a premium line of consumer friendly potatoes has already made strong inroads in Ontario, where they are available exclusively at Dominion, A&P, The Barn and Ultra Food and Drug Stores." "When products don't meet the grade it's frustrating," admits Visser. "But FoodTrustis ahead of the industry with their (quality) standards. We got good results from the work we did with Tony. I'm very pleased."
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