​Harvesting opium ​poppy

We continue to speak about harvesting tasks.​ O​n this occassion about poppy or opium plant (Papaver somniferum). Next to where our friend Alfonso and Sergio were harvesting estero wheat with their Fendt 6300C combine, two New Holland combine (CX 780 and TX 63) were harvesting poppy. It was very interesting seeing how two combines worked in the same field simultaneously because it was like a fully synchronized dance. Sergio told us that using two combine together is mandatory to harvest this crop.

The cutting header used is a Moresil M29-14 like a corn cutting header... we had never seen anything similar before. As you can see in our video, the working was performed at breakneck speed so they harvested all opium fields in a few days (and you can imagine they are large fields)

This opium is used in pharmaceutical products mainly to make morphine and codeine this crop is supervised by the Police from sowing to harvesting, besides the farmer needs to have a lot of documentations and pass inspections to grow it since this crop is illegal for other uses. Nowadays, this crop is more and more coming into fashion in extensive farms with irrigation system mainly.

Versión en español.

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Joaquín Herminio Tribaldos (Twins' Farm)

​​Canned green peas

We continue to publish another post about unusual jobs for us. This time, our friend Antonio Miguel send us some pictures, again, about his tasks in his farm harvesting green peas. I would like to highlight these green peas are for food industry (canned food) so they aren't able for feed like all peas what are sowed in our area.

Two Ploeger EPD 538 pea harvesters came from Well and Zeewolde Town - Holland in order to harvest his green peas (the Comagra canning company located in Talavera de la Reina - Toledo is responsible to hire them... he only has to pay the diesel consumed by the two harvesters). The yield on this crop is high (about 11,000kg/ha) and the price can range from 0.15€/kg to 0.24€/kg depends on the cleaning and the harshness​ ​of this product. This job is normally quickly because each harvester can collect about 2ha per hour (but it is very relative because it can fluctuate with different fields, yields,...). This type of green peas are sowed in February and harvested on the last days of May.

You can see a use of peas in the kitchen. Here you have information about a fantastic soup. Our Jean friend just published a healing yellow split pea soup recipe complete with step-by-step pictures and detailed instructions.

Versión en español.

Joaquín Herminio Tribaldos (Twins' Farm)