Late tonight I headed for the potato fields in Royal with Tyson Allred. While Pres Lewis read the letters of the missionaries we’ll see tomorrow, I got to see TONS of potatoes being harvested. This is a remarkable process.
The trucks at the left bring the potatoes in from the fields. There are 7 trucks running non-stop. This shift goes from 3:00 p.m. until after midnight. The 2 Diggers in the fields dig up 3-4 rows of potatoes at a time, about 20 feet across. The potatoes grow in about 12″ of soil, with about 7-9 potatoes per plant. The Diggers lift the potatoes out of the soil, and separate the greens. A different tractor pulls a huge heavy thing over the field later to even out the ground again. Sorry I don’t know the names of all of the pieces of equipment.
The potatoes are emptied from the trucks onto a conveyor belt that shakes the dirt and rocks out, then the women by the lights look for any more rocks or rotten potatoes before they are loaded into the semi trucks to be taken to the processing plant in Quincy.
These potatoes are moving FAST. The truck empties in minutes!
This variety of potato is used for french fries. 
Here’s the machinery that does something important. 
Take a look at the size of these!
These potatoes go up the conveyor belt to the waiting semi trucks. About 20 trucks like this are filled in a day. Amazing.
Derek and Tyson Allred
Next we drove out to the field where the Diggers were harvesting. This week 120 acres were harvested. This is the machine that separates the potatoes from the plants and dirt.
The trucks drive right alongside the Digger, and the potatoes fill them. It took about 9 minutes to fill a truck! The Digger is pulled by a huge tractor:
Digger and truck, side by side at 11:30 p.m.
Next we headed to a corn field that will be harvested tomorrow. Just a few weeks ago I was eating sugar snap peas grown in this very field. Now the corn is here, ready to harvest! Tyson brought me several cobs, then taught me to eat them raw. That was my lunch/dinner for today. It was delicious!
Here’s the one I ate.
I love farm life. I love it so much. This place is like heaven.
Our Washington Yakima Mission 