Virtual Tour of Mountain Valley Produce's Potato Packing Shed
Warehouse, packing and shipping facility at Mountain Valley Produce. In the back are 300,000 cwt of modern potato storage sheds where our crop of potatoes are stored in temperature and humidity controlled conditions. There is also an additional 265,000 cwt of potato storage close by on our farm to hold the rest of the commercial potato crop and certified potato seed crop. In front of this picture is the clean, state of the art potato packing shed, finished product storage cold rooms, offices, shipping docks, and truckers lounge.
Potatoes are either washed out of the storage bins or unloaded off trucks into a flume to the potato packing area. They are then washed and scrubbed with 100% clean well water (we don't recycle our wash water to reduce disease contamination). They are also disinfected at this point with ozone added to the water. We test our wash water and the belts every week for bacteria. If any problems show up (potatoes naturally get infected with types of bacteria not harmful to humans) the whole wash area is disinfected with chlorine. In addition once a week all the packing machinery and belts are cleaned with a disinfectant. After the potatoes are washed and scrubbed they go on a sorting table pictured above where trained sorters take out #2's and culls to be stored in tanks for further use in the case of #2's and to be composted in the case of the culls.
The potatoes are then sized with a screw sizer to be temporarily stored in holding tanks for use in a variety of consumer packs, bulk, burlap and cartons. These bins are all computer controlled to automatically be delivered to the precise packing area. From these holding tanks loose potatoes can be loaded onto semi-trucks as washed bulk. We also have dry bulk available.
Larger potatoes are computer sized into carton boxes with the hagan machine equipped with the latest technology which uses an electric eye to precisely size potato tubers. For more information on sizes and characteristics of carton boxes click here . The hagan machine can size potatoes about any way one would like, and with 5 lanes we can handle a lot of volume. We are also set up to pack cartons into three different labels at once.
We have a bliss box assembler that uses hot glue at Mountain Valley Produce. We have multi-color boxes of our labels Yes, Willie Myers and Mountain Top, and pack in private labels as well.
After the hagan fills the boxes a last check and adjustment of the carton weight is done by hand to assure consistent carton weights. Completed boxes are then loaded onto pallets according to the size and put in the cold room, ready for shipping.
Consumer packs are made with one of our 2 lockwoods that pack potatoes in a variety of sizes like 5, 8, 10, 15 and 20 lb. poly or mesh bags. These bags can then be baled into groups of 5 - 10 lb bags or 10 - 5 lb bags or other ways the buyer wants them prepared.
50 and 100 lb. burlap or 50 lb. paper vent view sacks are also packed in the warehouse for those customers who want them packed this way. Mini-bulk bags can also be packed.
All potatoes packed in our shed undergo a Federal USDA and State inspection for size, quality and defects. This helps us insure the highest quality product shipped. Colorado potatoes are one of four states that have a federal marketing order and the only state with its own standards that exceed USDA requirements. These strict size and grade requirements and the mandate that every load that leaves the San Luis Valley of Colorado ensures a quality product as high as our mountains. Other quality control measures we adhere to can be found in our HACCP plan.
Finished product is stored in our coldroom which is kept at 45 degrees. This keeps the potatoes at a good shipping temperature for a long shelf life and the ability to prepare large orders ahead of time for fast loading of trucks. The cold room has 10,000 sq. ft. of space allowing us to store up to 20 semi loads of finished product. Mountain Valley has 3 loading docks through which we can load 16-18 semi loads a day. We also have our own 80' certified scales to weigh loads.
For more information or a tour of our packing operation contact Ernie Myers or Kurt Holland at:
Mountain Valley Produce
3501 Road 53
Center, CO 81125
Toll Free: 1-800-360-2139
Fax: (719) 754-3190