Atwater farmer showcases automated sweet potato harvester ahead of Thanksgiving

ATWATER, Calif. (KFSN) -- The sweet potato harvest typically requires six to seven people on a tractor to pick and sort the crop.

But a change has come to Arnold Farms in Atwater.

"What's behind me is more of an automated harvester. This harvester currently is harvesting at the rate of six of those individual harvesters," Arnold Farms owner Craig Arnold says. "Quite frankly, the labor costs are becoming so high in the sweet potato industry that it's difficult to make the margins."

Arnold says the market has taken a hit because of the economy.

"Industry wide, from my understanding, talking to different packers, we're seeing some low demand," he says. "Overall, we feel there is a sentiment of people, just kind of hurting on money."

The automated tractor is made by a company in South Dakota.

"This is the only one on the west coast," Arnold says.

Modifications were made to make the harvester gentler so the sweet potatoes aren't damaged.

"You think of a sweet potato being pretty robust and tough but in reality, especially at harvest time, you can scar the skins very easily and people buy product on visual cues. They buy on how pretty the product is," Arnold says.

Arnold says you can't replace a human's touch during harvest, and sometimes sweet potatoes are missed by the machine.

But the new harvester is helping him adapt to a changing future.

"We used to do about 250 acres of sweet potatoes. This year we're down all the way to sixty as I try to cut costs and I try to make things profitable," Arnold says. "Our hope is that we can make this work to a level that is sustainable for us and helps keep us in the industry."

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