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The largest ever hopper manufactured by vegetable handling specialists Tong Engineering, capable of handling 70 tonnes of potatoes an hour, has been supplied to a French farmer.

The hopper has a holding capacity of 30 tonnes, which is 10 tonnes more than the largest model previously sold, and has been installed on a farm near Dieppe which grows more than 250 hectares (618 acres) of salad potatoes.

"The farmer is producing potatoes over a wide area — up to 40 miles from base — and brings loads of up to 30 tonnes to the packing station," says Barry Ledger, export sales manager of Tong Engineering. "He wanted a highcapacity intake to reduce the time spent unloading."

The system includes a Galaxy star separator, two Tong Easy-Grade screen sizes and two Tong Easy-Fill automatic box fillers. The Caretaker system has a 2.4 metre wide working width allowing customers to split grade at a high capacity into store in readiness for washing and packing.

Tong Engineering is one of the leading manufacturers of potato handling and grading machinery, and now makes intake hoppers from a five to 30 tonne capacity to suit all grading lines.