Carrot topper takes out backache

Engineer Terry Hawkins with his latest carrot crowning mach­ine.

09-03-2009 | Not Specified

Terry Hawkins runs a small country garage at Kimbolton and in between warrants, oil changes and fixing cars and tractors, has designed and built several carrot crowning machines.

He is passionate about design engineering and says he loves nutting things out and solving problems.

He also says little country garages should never be underestimated, as it's amazing what comes out of them.

He has spent 10 years building and refining machines to solve the carrot growers' problems with what to do with the green top and the crown from carrots destined for the processing plant to be diced and juiced.

In the past carrots have had the green top flailed off, but there are issues of carrots being split and spoiled by the process. Then the carrots with crowns intact were carted to the factory where factory workers individually cut each crown off with a knife.

"They all hated that job, and it was dangerous, as well as very slow when you are talking hundreds of tonnes of carrots."

Twelve years ago Terry saw an American machine developed to do the job, but realising it wouldn't suit New Zealand conditions, he set about developing his own in his northern Manawatu garage.

Weighing in at 750kg, the KGE (Kimbolton Garage Engineering) Carrot Crowner is mounted through a 3-point linkage to the tractor and has a levelling roller and seven rotating disc blades driven by the tractor PTO. It neatly slices the tops off the carrots and because of the spring mounting it follows the contours of the paddock, ensuring all carrots are decrowned at the same level.

When using the carrot crowner, all the tops and crowns are left in the paddock and can be mulched back into the paddock, reducing cartage and waste at the factory.

Terry's first carrot crowner was built for a local Manawatu grower, and he has produced a further six machines, all the time listening to feedback and refining the carrot crowner.

"The first guy came back and said what about putting springs on the front so some of the weight is taken off the carrot bed, so we did that modification," says Terry. "It is always interesting seeing it working and talking to the growers and figuring out better ways to do things."

Three have been sold in the North Island and the fifth South Island machine has just been dispatched.

Terry says the carrot crowner was such a hit in the South Island, processors paid growers a premium per tonne which enabled them to pay the machine off in the first season of use.

The machine takes 200 hours to produce, but at $34,000 + GST Terry says it provides a handy bit of cashflow for the engineering business at the start of the year.

He sources all of the parts locally and employs his brother-in-law Jim Corpe in the garage to help out with the other mechanic and general engineering work when things gets busy.

Terry is keen to get to Australia and see how carrots are processed there to gauge possibilities for an export market for his carrot crowner.

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