There are so many variables to harvesting
tall dual crops. Dave has investigated many
harvesting operations worldwide and spent
many hours inside harvesters untangling fiber
from the machines.
Many an operator has packed up
their harvesting or baling kit and
left the field saying:
“…never again!”
Dave Jordan, was not prepared to walk away
however, and has committed himself to
exploring the best way to harvest tall crops.
"This coming season we will use two methods:
One very old and one very new. Our intension
is to master the whole technique so that we
can help other hemp entrepreneurs to get their
products to market."
In 2013 HempFarm NZ purchased a Clarke D8
from TCI Australia. Dave says that the deal
with TCI was not only for a D8 itself, but for
the rights to further develop and produce
machines to grow the hemp industry in New
Zealand.
The D8 was designed to work in the field and
offer the farmer a processing machine that
would add value to crops. HempFarm NZ
invested heavily in the technology and also
tried to engineer the D8 into a harvester, in
the hopes it would be a one pass machine in
the field. “After early trials we experienced
costly and harsh failures. It was crop after
crop, causing so many issues at harvest time
and constant breakages of the system.” Dave
decided to pull the pin on harvesting with a
decorticator in the field and focus on setting
up the D8 in a factory facility.
Dave goes on, “The D8 is a great machine and
through ongoing trials we have ended with the
view that: It is best set up in a factory similar
to the set up of the European models. The
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