Bmc Presents Potato Harvesting (1962)

Begins with the British Motor Corporation logo (B.M.C. - BMC).



01:18:16 C/U of a hessian sack full of potatoes. L/S of tractor driving down country road towards camera. Various shot of this, and another tractor driving around a farm. They are Nuffield tractors. Narrator describes how farmers who use this kind of tractor for harvesting potatoes will improve their yield.



01:18:56 Various shots of a plough being attached to the back of the tractor. Various shots of a field being ploughed including a shot from on board the tractor looking at its "wake". Shots of the field being levelled including high angle shot. Narrator describes how all the various processes are made easier by Nuffield tractor equipment. The cultivator is shown at work. Then footage of harrowing.



01:21:07 Extra tines are attached to the tractor for "marking out". C/U of the earth being drawn along by the tractor - ridging the ground ready for the potatoes to be planted out. "It is the planting which shows the Nuffield tractor to its best advantage" states the narrator. High angle shot of the tractor moving through the field. Three women are sitting on the back of the tractor on an attachment full of potatoes.



01:22:40 C/U of the women at work as they place potatoes into a revolving device which drops them at regular intervals as the tractor moves along. "Three women can plant up to ten acres a day" we are informed. Next stage in the process is laying fertiliser. The ground is then forked into ridges.



01:24:05 Cut to later in the year and the potato plants have grown. Various shot of farmer driving tractor through the rows of potato plants. The field is sprayed with pesticide to prevent potato blight. Narrator describes how the Agricultural Advice Service let farmers know if there is going to be a high risk of potato blight so that they can spray in time.

01:25:35 L/S of tractor moving towards camera - it is "digging" using an old fashioned "spinner". Good shots of the tractor driver at work and of women picking the potatoes up by hand.



01:26:10 The modern way of harvesting the potatoes is shown. The modern way makes use of the "two row harvester" various shots of this variation on the tractor. Commentator talks up the Nuffield tractor - how much time it saves the farmer etc. Various shots of the harvesting process. The potatoes are cleaned as they go through the process.



01:28:25 Various shots of the potatoes in a store room, they pass down a conveyor belt being sorted by a woman. Shots of the potatoes stacked in sacks being placed on an elevator where they are picked off at the top and loaded onto a lorry.



"From start to finish this potato harvester gives 100% increase in output per man and a really big increase in profit if you are cropping 60 acres or more."



01:29:11 End credits read: "Produced for the Nuffield Organization (sic) for Associated British Pathe". The End.



Note: this print is badly colour faded - pink cast throughout - magenta bias.



Documentation file exists - music cue sheet and commentary transcript. Voiceover artist is Gordon Davies.
FILM ID:1257.03

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