The Harvest
The principle objectives of a potatoes, onions or any harvest.
Harvest time is approaching after months of dedication, hard work worries and investments. This is the moment when start having an idea of the possible results of our hard work of the last months.
Let's reflect for a moment on: "What are the real objectives of a harvest?", in other words:
What do we really want to achieve with the harvest, which we have to do during unforeseeable weather conditions all over the world.
The 4 objectives of a successful harvest are:
- Harvest at the right moment.
- Get the onions or potatoes as quickly as possible from the field.
- Avoid physical damage to the onions or potatoes.
- Harvest at minimum costs.
Two topics are of great importance in relation to the onion, potato or any harvest: 1. Know the Weather and 2. Be organized in advance
Know the weather.
In general onion or potato harvests take place in the beginning of autumn or at the start of the rainy season in general during that time of year when the weather is the most unreliable or the least predictable. Mature potatoes or onions are very susceptible for infections and rot especially because they have come to the end of their physiological live cycle and there for have hardly any defenses anymore. At the end of the growing season we have a window of about 2 weeks for harvesting there for we better have a good idea what the weather is going to be and the faster we are able to harvest the better. Thanks to the internet today producers have access to good weather information all over the world.
Some examples of world wide weather information:
Be organized (prepared) for the harvest.
Everybody in the area is doing it at the same time! There for everybody is in need of the same local resources.
The maturing process of onions and potatoes gives a window of opportunity of about two weeks to harvest the produce at the correct moment.
In case of a manual harvest it is paramount that the labor force plus the housing and transport for the labor force are organized in time. Most probably everybody that produces in the area will be needing extra people for their harvest all at the same time.
In case of a mechanized harvest the equipment to be used has to be in perfect working condition to do the job. Anyway we have to ready the start harvesting the moment natures gives us the opportunity , without losing precious time because of lack of workers or equipment in bad conditions. Especially in very remote areas extra of the harvest preparations have to be taken. No being organized or prepared can produce important unnecessary losses and damage to the producer.
