- Rough plough in October
- Allow the frosty (fingers crossed) weather to break down the soil
- Bring in 5 huge machines to work in unison for 3 consecutive 12 hour days – double plough, grade, griddle, furrow, plant etc
- Agronomist visit
- Chemical spray pre-emerge killing surface seeds and weeds
- Agronomist visit
- Chemical spray on sprouts killing insects, weeds, blight and so on
- Wait for dry weather to pick (fingers crossed)
- Cart off to McCain’s factory in Eastfield
Yes I’m talking about the processes that go in to making McCain’s oven chips (and fries, mash, roasties, wedges, baked, hash browns, croquettes and smiley faces) and that is before they even arrive at the factory. Every product has its own potato requirements and each field will be growing potatoes for a particular product including Macdonald’s fries which are also produced by McCain’s in this area (contrary to popular belief yes they are made from potatoes).
I’m not knocking McCain’s as they bring in a lot of cash locally through jobs at the factory and by renting fields from local farmers (McCain buy approximately 15% of the annual British potato crop.)
I’m just saying I’d rather have one of ours. Method – plant potatoes, wait for them to grow, pick, cook, eat (preferably with lots of butter).