Growing potatoes | Agriculture Farming Simulator 2013 Guide

Basics

Potatoes are the last type of plants that we can grow in Farming Simulator 2013. Similarly to sugar beet, they also require a specialized equipment; but what's more, harvesting them is the most time consuming process in the whole game. As with all other crops, begin by cultivating the field and planting the potatoes. To that end, use a potato planter Grimme GL 420 or Grimme GL 660. Since the only difference between them is the work surface, it pays off to save up an additional 10000$ and buy the more expensive one - cutting the work time in half will be a sufficient reward. One the field is fertilized, we can speed up time.

Planting potatoes using Grimme GL 660.

Begin the harvest when the crops turn green. The first step is to remove the leaves using a Grimme KS 75-4 machine. Attach it to a tractor, then lower the implement and drive over the mature potatoes - speed is not a factor, so the whole process shouldn't take too long.

Removing leaves during rain. One of two stages of harvesting mature potatoes.

When the potatoes are ready, it's time for the proper harvest. For that purpose, use Grimme KS 75-55 which costs almost 120000$. Attach it to a tractor, set out into the field, extend the combine, turn it on, and... slowly drive through the field (cruise control 1). The pulps will be stored inside the machine; when it fills up, drive over to a trailer, extend the pipe and unload. The collected potatoes can be stored in a storage building or sold at once.

Harvesting potatoes. Without the best machine available in the game, the process is very time consuming.

The biggest flaw of growing potatoes is the time it requires. Not only do we have to perform an additional process of removing the leaves, but the Grimme KS 75-55 machine is very slow and covers little area. Consequently, I would recommend buying the Grimme Tectron 415 harvester. It not only implements the two functions together, but also covers a much larger surface and therefore allows you to process the same ground as Grimme KS 75-55 twice as fast.

Grimme Tectron 415 - every farmer's dream.

Growing potatoes

When planning the expansion of your farm, you can consider investing in potatoes. It's a rather expensive and time-consuming activity. The first thing you need is a proper planter. As you shouldn't take on potatoes without having a considerable amount of money, you should start off by buying the Grimme GL 660 for 33 970 $ - the working width is 6 meters. You can buy the 10 000 $ cheaper Grimme GL 420, but it has 50% less width, so it's not worth it.

The planter, just like the sower, has to be filled.

Remember that the planter - just like the sower - has to be filled with seeds which is quite expensive (around 3 000 $).

Planting potatoes with the 6 meter wide planter goes rather fast.

You can plant potatoes (cruise control 1) on any field prepared with the cultivator. Remember to use the sprayer or fertilize the field afterwards.

When using the topper the tractor can move rather fast, but the width is very limited.

Now you have two options. Option 1 is the minimum version. Before the harvest, you have to buy the Grimme KS 75-4 for 7 990 $ to remove the leaves (cruise control 2). Unfortunately, you cannot hire a worker to do it and the width is just above 3 meters, which makes it a very long and tiresome activity.

Working with this harvester is very slow, as it can gather only one row of potatoes at a time.

The second step involves purchasing the Grimme SE 75-55 harvester for 118 760 $. Unfortunately it's an awful machine: it gathers only one (!) row of potatoes at a time. It makes the harvest an incredibly long process for which you cannot hire a worker (!). Here's a profitability study for the whole investment 1:

Investment (minimum option): 160 720 $ (33 970 $ for the planter, 7 990 $ for the topper and 118 760 $ for the combine harvester; the price doesn't include a sprayer);

Return on investment: a dozen or so days (despite the low price of potatoes, a single harvest will be 3,5x bigger than that of wheat or barley);

Conclusion: growing potatoes is very profitable, but with basic equipment it's too time consuming, absorbing and just boring - I don't recommend it!

This combine makes growing potatoes really profitable.

Option 2 is also the optimum one. You need to buy the Grimme Tectron 415 combine for as much as 479 990 $. However high is the price, it's a very good investment if you want to plant potatoes on large fields and earn serious money out of it: with this vehicle, you won't have to remove the leaves (the combine will do it on its own), you will gather four rows at the same time and the whole process can be done by a hired worker!

Unloading potatoes from a combine works just like with grains.

You only have to make sure to collect the harvested potatoes. A single combine tank can hold as much as 20 000 l of potatoes, however you have to keep in mind that the amount of potatoes will grow much faster than with grains, so both the combine tank and the trailer will fill up quick. Here are the calculations:

Investment (optimum version): around 513 960 $ (33 970 $ for the planter and 479 990 $ for the combine; sprayer not included);

Return on investment: a dozen or so days;

Conclusion: planting potatoes is very profitable, but only with the right tools which make the whole process much less absorbing.