Lexington – Researchers at the College of Agriculture have reported the successful creation of a strain of white potatoes that will forever change the face of potato farming. It is a hybrid version of the popular Russett variety that allow for single-point extraction while harvesting.
The near perfectly round produce is highly adaptable to use in the hilly topography found across Appalachia. Potatoes are grown in furrows that extend vertically up a steep incline, making previously useless hillsides production bonanzas.
To harvest, one simply stands as the base of the furrow and starts the process with a potato fork by removing a single bunch of the tubers from the furrow. Subsequently, the remainder of the dynamic crop will roll to the bottom of the furrow as produce is removed.
“It couldn’t be any easier,” according to Cecil Ray Duncan of Possum Trace Tater Farm of Crippled Mule, Kentucky. “You dig out a single scoop full and get back out of the way. They’ll come rolling out of there faster than the younguns can pick them up.”
This new technology will render countless previously useless hillsides into prime agricultural real estate. We will definitely be following this story closely. Stand by for updates.