Finning, exclusive distributor of Cat® generators in the UK and Ireland, is giving York based agricultural firm, JE Hartley, a temporary power boost for the fourth year running - helping it to harvest 5500 acres of peas over ten weeks with no loss or wastage.  

Hartleys has been growing peas at its farm site in based Thorganby near York since 1954. The firm controls and manages the entire pea crop from seed to final pack and produces peas of exceptional quality that are sold to supermarkets and food manufacturers across the UK and Europe.  

The annual pea picking harvest takes place from June and typically lasts ten weeks. To ensure an optimal crop yield the firm brings in a quantity of temporary freezers, positioning them at various points around the farm so the peas can be frozen within two hours of being picked on the site, so wasted or spoilt peas are kept to a minimum.      

Ben Williams, engineering supervisor at Hartleys, explains: “Equipment reliability is vital during the annual pea harvest. Both from an environmental and commercial perspective, it’s important that we partner with a power supplier that understands the scope of the power we need and ensures there are no losses.    

But prior to working with Finning Power Rental the harvest had been beset with problems; the supply of power was unreliable with the temporary generators frequently stalling which resulted in large amounts of the pea crop being spoiled each year. Indeed, according to WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme) around 3.6 million tonnes, or 7.2 per cent of all food harvested, is wasted before it leaves UK farms each year. If sold, this amount would generate around £1.2 billion.   

“The grid power supply cannot cope with the increased demand at what is an extremely busy time of year,” explains Dean Harris, account manager at Finning.  

“As a result, JE Hartley has been using various power rental firms to provide temporary generators to power the freezers. Their customers will simply not purchase spoiled produce, so it’s imperative that the power provided is continuous with no loss of power to keep the freezers working at their optimal level.”  

In 2018 Hartleys called on Finning to supply the temporary generators. As experts in the field of power generation, Finning worked closely with Hartleys to first analyse the required load profile of the freezers and any ancillary equipment. Dean Harris and his team were then able to design a bespoke power package. This included 4 x 500kVA generators set up in a ‘load on demand’ configuration, along with the switchgear, 2000 metres of cabling and four 3000I fuel tanks. They also added in a contingency for servicing all the equipment, reduced fuel consumption and downtime and maximised the crop yield.   

Williams concludes: “Working with Finning Power Rental ensures we’re able to harvest 100 per cent of the pea crop, with no loss or wastage. The tailored package design they provide enables us to get 5500 acres of peas from field to freezer within two hours, every day over a ten-week harvest period with minimal losses.”  

For more information on Finning UK visit: https://www.finningpowerrental.com/