For the second time in a year, potato grading equipment is being exported from West Point, PEI to the Dmitrov district of Russia. The equipment is manufactured by HF Stewart Co Ltd of West Point. On Thursday, February 1, 2001, a shipment containing a potato line for grading seed and table potatoes will be loaded in preparation for it's trip to a farm located near Moscow. At the time of the first shipment, HF Stewart formed a partnership with Linkletter Welding of Central Bedeque, and the two companies have worked together on the most recent project.
Last September, the companies sent equipment to wash and grade potatoes and a processing line for carrots. Harvey Stewart of HF Stewart Co Ltd and Wayne Linkletter of Linkletter Welding travelled to Russia to help farmers there set up the equipment and to demonstrate its use.
The Russia potato industry is one of the largest in the world; the country annually produces eight million acres of potatoes. But the equipment needed to process the potatoes is sorely out of date. Stewart said his trip to Russia was a real eye opener. "The equipment they use is very old . Many of the farmers we met had never seen a modern potato line. They were very impressed with the technology, and we're hoping that results in increased sales," he said.
The two companies have worked in partnership with a farm called DokaGene, located in the Dmitrov region. The farm is owned by Alan Parker of Alberton, PEI and Alexander Chuenko of Moscow. The partners in the farm have created a company called Troika Potato International Ltd., which has purchased several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment from PEI manufacturers. Some of the equipment is in use on the DokaGene farm, but a substantial amount has been purchased by other Russian potato farms. The Department of Development and Technology assisted DokaGene with the purchase of the potato line in the hope of creating markets for further sales.
"People in PEI have a good deal of knowledge about the potato industry and potato processing," said Mike Currie, Minister of Development and Technology. "These companies are developing a market for what is essentially knowledge of potato processing – turning traditional Island equipment into an exportable technology. And the small size of these companies has allowed them to be flexible enough to meet the demands of this marketplace."
The companies have also developed other markets. In the spring they will export a windrower to Uruguay, and Harvey Stewart and Wayne Linkletter will attend a meeting of Latin American potato producers in March in the hope of finding new markets for their equipment.
"A lot of countries are anxious to get more into potato and vegetable production, but they really don't have enough information about what kind of equipment they need. We can design and build equipment to their specifications, because we understand these industries; that should give us a real leg up," Stewart said.