MEMBER PROFILE
1st
A World First for Potato Farming
By Paula Schuck Allan Equipment Manufacturing was started in 1964 in Prince Edward Island and is currently Canada’s oldest and largest manufacturer and designer of potato harvesting equipment. This on its own is a powerful, notable and wellrecognized accomplishment in the ag world. But a lesser-known fact is that Allan Equipment has lit up the industry with the world’s first electric potato harvester. When Allan Equipment president Trent Cousins and I finally caught up, it was at
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Implement Success | Summer 2021
the end of the day. Home with his two young children sounds like the perfect spot to land after a long day during one of the busiest seasons for potato farming. Cousins and his partner, Danie van Shalkwyk, bought Allan Equipment in 2013. In 2014, they decided to design a new harvester and wanted to power it electrically because it is simple and cost efficient. There had been a prototype electric potato harvester built in the 2000s. “We
took the idea and made it into something we could bring to market. That was the world’s first electric potato harvester.”
Why Electric? Allan’s electric potato harvester is more efficient and costs a lot less to run. It sends very little dirt to the warehouse. It’s wider and it digs cleaner. Electric power allows farmers to easily control the speeds of the belt chain or webs, shakers or kickers and all cleaning tables. It is also very dependable.
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