Potato food systems

Summary

This week, we were learning about food systems. A food system includes the steps that it takes for a food to get to a grocery store after it has been grown. First, we tried to organize the steps in order of the apple food system. The apple food system was long and had a lot of steps because there are many apples that are grown with bruises or bumps.

 We got into groups and chose a fruit or vegetable that we wanted to learn the food system of. My group chose potatoes. It took a little while, but then we found the steps:

  1. The potatoes are grown on a potato field.
    image002
    Grown on fields
  2. The potato digger or harvester digs out the potatoes from the ground and uses a series of belts to load them onto a large truck. 
  3. Next, the potatoes are going to get washed. The potatoes get dumped from the truck into the washer.
  4. Then, the potatoes get put into sections for good potatoes and bad potatoes.
  5. Next, the potatoes are sized and put into sections such as “big”, and “small”
  6. After this step, the potatoes are put into bags.
  7. After the potatoes are bagged, they are placed in cold storages which keep them fresh for longer. As the potato orders are received from the different stores, they are loaded onto refrigerated trailers and taken to the different stores. 
  8. Next, the potatoes are cooked and ready to eat.

Potato Digger Digs out the Potatoes

During this step, the potato diggers go out onto the field with bags and dig the potatoes out of the ground. Sometimes, the potatoes can get squeezed when they are in the bags, and then they are thrown away. Also, sometimes when the potatoes are bad or have weird shapes, the potato diggers take them out and throw them away.

Washing the Potatoes

image004
Washed

Next, the potatoes get put into big tubs where they get washed. Ther are loaded into this washer from a truck. Sometimes the potatoes can also get squeezed in this step when they are getting loaded from the truck. Another way that the potatoes can get wasted are when the skin peels off when the potatoes are being washed.

"Good or Bad", "Big or Small"

image008
Sized
In this step, first, the potatoes are getting chosen if they are ugly or pretty. When the potatoes are pretty, they get put into bins where they are chosen to see whether they are big or small potatoes. When the potatoes are ugly, they get sent back to the farmer and he uses them for a different cause. If they are missing skin or are starting to rot, they are thrown away. When the potatoes are chosen for big and small, the potatoes are out into two larger bins where they are separated. Some of the potatoes are either too large or too small to be sold in grocery stores, so they also get put in for a different cause.

Put Into Bags

image012After the potatoes are put into those sections, they are put into bags for the grocery stores. They are either 3, 5, 10, or 50-pound bags. The bags that are 3,5, or 1o pounds are the pags that you see at different grocery stores. The 50-pound bags are sold to f ood service companies such as restaurants. Some of the potatoes are too heavy to be bagged, so they either get thrown away, or get sent to a different cause.

Storages and Delivering to Stores

The potatoes are placed in cold storages where they will stay fresh for longer. When the potatoes are put into storages, they are kept there untill the grocery stores order the potatoes. Sometimes if the potatoes are in the storages for a long time, they can get spoiled. Once the potatoes are int the stores, sometimes they get soft and start to rot, and they have to throw them away.

SP2: Developing and using models

In class,  my group and I refined/rebuilt our potato food system model as we learned about the amount of ways the potatoes can get thrown away or wasted during these steps. I liked the idea of creating a model because it made me remember the different steps, and how much food can get wasted.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I learned a lot about the way potatoes get from the ground into the grocery store. I never knew that there were so many steps into doing this job! I hope you learned something from this too.








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