East Kent potato grower takes delivery of bespoke mobile grader
28th October 2021
Monkton Court Farms has become the latest potato grower to receive Haith’s next-generation mobile grading system. Philip Smith, who grows the Desiree and King Edward potato varieties across 60ha in
Monkton Court Farms has become the latest potato grower to receive Haith’s next-generation mobile grading system.
Philip Smith, who grows the Desiree and King Edward potato varieties across 60ha in East Kent, recently took delivery of the state-of-the- art grader.
Philip’s previous grader was purchased in 1999 and had reached the end of its natural life, becoming slow and inaccurate.
Monkton Court Farms has used Haith’s equipment since 2016, when a neighbour’s recommendation led Philip to buy two Haith box fillers.
Philip was so pleased with how the box fillers performed that he had no hesitation in talking to Ken Hollingworth at Haith when he decided to replace his grader.
“The Haith box fillers have never let me down, and I was really impressed with the way the company handled my order and has supported me ever since,” says Philip. “When I decided it was time to replace our mobile grader, I looked at the options available but as soon as I spoke to Ken I was confident that Haith would build a grader that would meet my requirements. On delivery, I was delighted with the quality of the build. The grader is now in work and doing a great job.”
As with the vast majority of Haith’s machines, Philip’s mobile grader has been designed to his precise specifications.
The 6.6m long grader, which can handle up to 30t per hour, features a Haith Supaflow bulker that feeds a Haith Evolution Multi- Separator with six spiral shafts and clod roller scrapers to effectively remove soil, clod and haulm.
The covered inspection unit on the grader can comfortably accommodate six people, who can work at any time of the day or night thanks to the presence of energy-saving LED lights and in all conditions as the bunker, separator and inspection area are covered.
“The new generation of Haith mobile graders are our most accurate and efficient,” says Ken. “Being mobile, they are incredibly versatile and can be used in the field or packhouse depending on what works for the grower. We were delighted to supply Philip with his box fillers back in 2016 and it is great to hear that the way those machines have worked for Monkton Court Farms gave him the confidence to buy this latest piece of equipment from us.”
