An introduction to one tonne bins (Edition 16)

SEPTEMBER – SPRING! WHERE HAS 2016 GONE?

We know what we’ve been up to! We’ve been busy at the farm and are pleased to share with you some stories on our very new coolstore and new seed intake machinery. Read about this below! Also Kevin Langmaid discusses the highs and lows of vegetable production on the land.

We also have a feature article on the evolution of our one tonne bins!

For these stories and more please read on. The team at Cherry Hill Coolstores

IN THIS ISSUE


Season Report	Introduction to One Tonne bins	Vegetable Production	Bursting with Technology

Read on for these great articles and much more…

SEASON REPORT

We’re all glad to move on from a wet and wild Winter, with longer  days and nicer weather forecast for Springtime.

Winter saw the last of the seed coming out of the ground and it was looking pretty good overall,  taking the recent weather into consideration. And our spirits are high at Cherry Hill, with new equipment due soon and the construction of another coolstore in progress.

Seed is all looking really good at this stage. And due to our improvements in our cutting efficiency  practice this year, we are actually able to schedule more cutting of seed if anyone requires.

Please give us a call on (03) 6426 1590 to arrange this and book your seed in for cutting.

Have a wonderful Spring season everyone, Andrew and team at Cherry Hill Coolstores.

CHERRY HILL COOLSTORES SEED GUARANTEE

Our Seed Management Services. Cherry Hill Coolstores will guarantee our services on Seed Growers seed. If you buy someone else’s certified seed, which is presented to Cherry Hill in good condition, and it breaks down, we will replace our cutting and services at no charge.

This guarantee specifically refers to seed piece breakdown (i.e. rot), and refers to seed which is delivered directly to Cherry Hill Coolstores from the seed paddock for chemical application, coolstoring and cutting. In order for this guarantee to be valid, the Buyer must make claims within 24-hours of the seed leaving Cherry Hill Coolstores and before planting.

In order for this guarantee to be valid, the buyer must make claims with 24 hours of the seed leaving Cherry Hill and before planting.

View more about our guarantee here.

AN INTRODUCTION TO ONE TONNE BINS

In 1996 at Cherry Hill we decided to try and improve our seed handling efficiency. The idea of increasing the bin size was suggested as one way of achieving this. We considered one, two and 12 tonne bins.

12 tonne bins were soon ruled out, as this was a huge change, very expensive and it would require the whole industry to be onboard.

So, after trialling one and two tonne proto type bins for 12 months, we found the seed stored in these bins equally as well as they did in half tonne bins. It was therefore decided to go for the one tonne bin.

We worked out the shape and design for what we thought suited our system at the time and nervously committed to 1000 new one tonne bins. The first ones ever built in Tasmania.

There was still a lot of resistance to the idea, so much so, that Simplot (that same year) introduced 4000 new half tonne bins into the system. This and other resistance made the wide spread introduction of the one tonne bins much slower and harder then we expected. We then had to cater for both size bins. We were however, able to offer discount services to customers who invested in the new bins, and this got things moving. There were some growers who really liked the change and got on board, although it still took several years for these bins to be come the industry standard.

At Cherry Hill we handle on average 10 000 tonne of seed potatoes every year, each box of seed is handled about 12 times through the seed cycle.

Thank god for one tonne bins!

TESTIMONIAL … “WE ARE HAVING GOOD RESULTS”

“We have been growing potatoes for 30 years and have been using Cherry Hill Coolstores for over 20 years for seed cool storage, since on farm storage of seed potatoes ceased. Cherry Hill now cut all our seed with most of our seed precut. With their knowledge and modern up to date seed handling equipment we are having good results, making it easier to manage seed at planting time.

We have a good relationship with Andrew and Brendan and they are always there to help and give advice when needed.”

Darryl Saltmarsh – Partner R & D Saltmarsh, Central Castra.

View more of our testimonials here.

THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF VEGETABLE PRODUCTION ON THE LAND

Kevin Langmaid’s latest article discusses the highs and lows of vegetable production on the land, as he has seen it, in his lifetime.

There has always been great risks associated in crop production, some of the risks have been reduced or eliminated, but the amount of finance invested now, is many times greater than in days gone by.

During the 1950’s and early 60’s we had some highs and lows. One high I recall was the ability to pay 42% off my first farm loan, due to a shortage of commodity and a very high demand for golden Tares, a seed crop in our cropping program. Along with Tares, Blue peas, Grey peas, Canning peas and of course potatoes were well sought after. This was a time before our currency changed over to the dollar in the early 60’s.

My outstanding loan was £7,500 and my Tare payment was £3,150, all requirements of the crop were very good and the yield so high – 38 bushels to the acre, with four merchants very keen to purchase the seed.

This all led to a very good result, except that I had to pay my provisional tax the following year … OUCH!

A couple of seasons before the Tare high, we experienced a severe low. We had seven acres
of early Bismarks ready to start harvesting. We managed one load dug, when rain commenced and it was nearly two weeks before we could get back to harvesting again. As a result, Irish Blight made it impossible to pick a sample fit to go to market. We estimated the yield was around 12 tonnes per acre – after disease had taken it’s toll it was reduced down to 3 tonnes per acre. The price at the time was about £40 per tonne.

Today, most of the Blight risk has been eliminated with the use of fungicides, however, if growers are not vigilant with crop inspections Blight can still cause a lot of damage along with many other pests and diseases wrecking the bottom financial line of crop production.

I have been fortunate to have witnessed, and been part of, all the new technology and improvements and modern machinery, introduced into our industry. I can safely say growers need more highs than lows, as we did decades past.

Kevin is now retired, however can regularly be found out at the Cherry Hill Coolstores. He lives in East Devonport and would describe himself as very happily retired with still a key interest in Cherry Hill. Andrew regularly refers to Kevin for his advice and opinions.

BURSTING WITH TECHNOLOGY

New Coolstore

The new coolstore will have two sections – the capacity for 1700 tonnes of seed storage in the general coolstore area, plus a drystore with a capacity of 900 tonnes. Featuring all the latest in coolstore technology, such as climate control, CO2 monitoring, and an automatic air exchange system in between inside and outside (stale air out and fresh air back in). We’ll have another update in our next newsletter for you, so stay tuned.

New seed intake machinery arriving soon
Our new seed intake machinery is on track for a November delivery and installation – an early Christmas present for everyone – and it will be in place for your 2017 harvest. One of its biggest advantages is that it will have the ability
to remove any oversized seed during the unloading process. This means it will save us time and thereby save money for all customers of Cherry Hill Coolstores.

Gotta be happy with that!

Pictured:

Banner – Andrew standing in the location the new coolstore will be located

Above: view of the plans (up-close) of the new coolstore

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Please note that some months ago we changed banks to the ANZ (a few customers have still been using our old details so please update your records as we now have new banking details).