A multi-row corn harvester, funded by Kutztown Rotary, the Rotary District 7430 Foundation and IHartHarvest, Inc. will go a long way toward making the Potato Project financially independent, announced David Owen of the local club.
Up until now, according to Owen, volunteers relied on a one-row harvester, pulled by a tractor and attached to a rolling collection bin. This train of equipment made harvesting a small plot almost impossible. In addition, the equipment required large amounts of handling of the product just to get it transported and stored, putting a severe strain on limited volunteer resources.
The Potato Project plants its crops on patches of land on loan from owners in the vicinity of Kutztown. Many are in fields of one to three acres, adding to the difficulty. The harvester will mechanize the whole process, speeding everything up and cutting down on the need for large numbers of volunteers.
Field corn is raised by the project as a cash crop in hopes of producing enough of a profit to pay the overall expenses of the whole effort. It costs roughly $21,000 in fuel, fertilizer and pesticides to get 150 to 200,000 pounds of potatoes into the hands of the food banks, said Owen.
This year, the Kutztown University Foundation donated the use of a 10-acre field to the effort and has promised an additional fifteen acres next year. Owen hopes that the added acreage will put the the whole thing over the top financially and allow the project to go on with its mission without having to rely on further donations for seasonal operations.
The 1986 John Deere 4425 harvester was purchased used for a cost of $8,000 after having spent years stored in a barn. The Kutztown Rotary Club and the Rotary district foundation split $7,000 of that with the remainder of the cost and the shipping being covered by the IHeartHarvest, Inc. The purchase of an attachable harvesting head for soybeans is being discussed, which would allow for crop rotation to protect the soil.
IHartHarvest, Inc., began as an idea with Walt and Linda Zawaski and Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, of Kutztown in 2008. As it grew, it accumulated the popular name of the Potato Project and the notice of the Kutztown Rotary Club. Since then, Rotary clubs from all over the Allentown/Reading region have contributed large numbers of volunteers for projects such as cutting potatoes in preparation for planting and harvesting the output.
So far in the growth of the Potato Project, Rotary has donated a corn crib, a conveyor, a mobile field bin, a dump trailer. a bin/conveyor drag line and an International tractor.
The harvest is expected to come in a bit lower this year than the project’s peak of 200,000 pounds due to the drought. The harvest of potatoes has been so successful that it has outstripped the capacity of Berks County food banks to use all the produce. In response to a request to diversify, two acres each of sweet corn and carrots were added to the planting schedule this year.
Owen’s next goal is to promote the Potato Project as a model for other Rotary clubs around the world. The first potential for expansion is going on currently as the Collegeville club considers taking up the effort. The whole thing is a perfect fit for the Rotary mission, he comments. Think what could be accomplished if clubs took this up as an activity with local crops all over the world.
