Prepping for Harvest 2025: Evans and Pearce Takes on a Major Workshop Project!

While our own machinery is fully serviced, updated, and primed for Harvest 2025, the team at Evans and Pearce has also taken on an exciting new project for another seed processor in Suffolk. Our workshop crew, led by Paul Hitch, has a significant task ahead: removing an existing Alpha Scan colour sorter and expertly integrating a brand new, full-colour sorter. This ambitious overhaul also includes reconfiguring the conveying system and adding a new screw compressor and generator.

Our proven track record in colour sorting

We’re no strangers to this kind of specialised work. Back in 2019, Evans and Pearce built and operated our own full-colour sorter. At the time, it was the largest machine of its kind in the UK and quickly became a go-to solution for cereal growers looking to remove ergot from crops bound for the food chain.

The importance of advanced colour sorting technology has become even more critical recently. Harvest 2024 saw ergot contamination levels in the UK reach record highs, driving unprecedented interest in this rapidly evolving field.

Understanding the rise in ergot contamination

Several factors contribute to the increasing presence of ergot:

• Increased use of untreated seed: This can introduce more fungal spores into the environment.
• High levels of black grass: This common weed can act as a host for ergot.
• Less inversion tillage: Reduced ploughing practices can leave ergot spores closer to the soil surface, promoting their spread.

Meeting urgent demand for Mobile Processors

With the high demand for on-farm colour sorting machines, our customer is understandably eager to get this upgraded equipment out of our workshop and into operation as soon as possible. Rob White from Evans and Pearce comments, “I think this is partly why we were chosen for the project. Paul and his team have a wealth of experience in this area and appreciate the pressures that mobile processors can come under from their customers.”

Work is already well underway, with a section of the chassis already adjusted to accommodate the extra height of the new colour sorter.

“As well as operating and building our own processing machines, I think the specialist knowledge we have acquired leaves us well placed to help other mobile processors in the future with similar projects,” Rob adds. “You have to respond to changing demand in all aspects of your business, and this new department is very much part of our future planning.”

We’re proud to bring our expertise to this crucial project, helping our client enhance their processing capabilities and contribute to a safer food supply.