Potato Files, The (DVD) - Stephen Richmond & Jonathan Whitlam

In this packed DVD the Tractor Barn producers look at the past and present of potato mechanisation. They use a combination of archive footage and current filming that ranges from the Ferguson spinner to the Ploeger self-propelled tanker harvester. They bear witness to a revolution in potato production which has now reached the stage where just 4,000 UK producers are responsible for 90 per cent of our 6 million tonnes production.

Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam start with manure spreading (as it used to be), ploughing and preparing the soil, taking a look at traditional systems as well as minimum tillage. They cover ridging and bed-forming with particular emphasis on specialist de-stoners such as the Grimme Combi Star.

Their section on planting runs from the 1950s hand-planting to more modern machines from Grimme, Reekie, Keyag and Standen. The irrigation systems covered range from pipes and sprinklers to today's hose reels, and there is footage of spraying for blight and topping.

The film-makers cover harvesting in detail, coming up to date with trailed harvesters but more particularly the monster 400-500 horsepower self-propelled 4-row machines. Manufacturers represented include Dewulf, Ploeger, Standen, Standen Pearson, Reekie and Agrifac. The producers have had access to the extensive Grimme film archive as well as their current footage.

Finally there is a section on potato handling – and gentleness – as well as grading and storing.