The Innovator potato is the variety we grow for fries alongside Donata, and the same one Farm Frites works with in Lębork. We look at it through the eyes of a processing plant buyer: how many fries come out of a tonne of raw material, and whether the colour after frying will be predictable. Below we show what we do about these things on our farm, from the field to loading.
Yield per tonne starts with tuber shape
You will find a full description of the variety and the reasons we chose it in our post on which potatoes for fries we grow.
In the field we work with Trimble GPS and RTK correction. We lift with a self-propelled AVR Puma 3 harvester: four rows at once, an 8-tonne tank and unloading on the go onto a trailer driving alongside.
Then the crop goes through the DOWNS CropVision optical sorter. Cameras and AI scan every piece through 360 degrees and reject stones, soil clods and defective tubers, at up to 100 tonnes per hour. What goes to the plant is potatoes, not soil from the field.
Colour after frying: sugars in the tuber
The colour of a fry is not just about looks. According to the National Centre for Nutrition Education, the more a product is fried, the darker its colour and, as a result, the higher its acrylamide content. Among the ways to limit acrylamide in potato products, the National Centre for Nutrition Education lists raw material properly stored in well-ventilated rooms at a controlled temperature above 6°C.
Researchers from the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences write that processing potato varieties with a low reducing sugar content results in a lower amount of acrylamide in the finished product. For their fries experiment they used Innovator, and in the same 2012 study they described their sample as potatoes with a favourably low level of reducing sugars.
The variety is a starting point, not a guarantee. We select every batch for firmness, colour and dry matter content, because these three things show up later on the line. We cover the numbers, and where the sugars in the tuber come from, separately in our post Innovator: dry matter and sugars.
We describe storage conditions for fries potatoes, stage by stage, in our post on storing potatoes for fries.
The key issues in one table
| Issue | What it depends on | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| Yield per tonne of raw material | tuber shape and uniformity, bruising, foreign matter | harvesting with the AVR Puma 3, sorting on the DOWNS CropVision |
| Colour after frying | reducing sugars in the tuber, storage conditions | selecting every batch for firmness, colour and dry matter |
| Documentation | certificates and batch testing | GlobalG.A.P., GRASP, FSA Gold, GMP+, Integrated Plant Production, residue testing |
| Delivery | route to the plant and form of the goods | Wocławy in Żuławy, loose, big bag, 15 kg and 10 kg sacks |
A short route across Pomerania
We farm in Wocławy in Żuławy, in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Farm Frites has a plant in Lębork, also in Pomerania, and works with the same variety as we do. So a potato from our field travels to the plant within a single voivodeship.
Behind that route stands scale. We farm more than 800 hectares, including around 400 hectares of vegetables, and we work with 87 machines. Our vegetables go to Onix, Farm Frites and FreshPol, partners who supply the largest retail chains and processing plants in Poland and Europe. We describe how we work with wholesale buyers in our guide wholesale onions: a supplier from Żuławy.
We hold GlobalG.A.P., GRASP, FSA Gold (Farm Sustainability Assessment) and GMP+ certificates. We produce using a technology free of pesticide residues, in line with the principles of Integrated Plant Production, and we test every batch for residues of pesticides, heavy metals and substances harmful to health.
Contract, sample and price
What a contract for industrial potatoes looks like, what gets agreed in it and how deliveries are spread out, we write in our post on contracting potatoes for processing. On request we send a free sample.
We have gathered varieties and delivery forms in our potato offer. The price is calculated based on current market prices, so we give it after a conversation about quantity, timing and the form of the goods. Write to us via the contact form.
