Potato farmers in P.E.I. asking golfers to practice their swing away from fields
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Many golf courses on Prince Edward Island are close to potato fields, and that means an errant tee shot could lead to problems for farmers.
That's why the P.E.I. Potato Board is asking golf enthusiasts to practice their swing away from farmers' fields.
"When we're farming alongside the golf courses, the guys are picking up some golf balls when they're doing their harvest activities," said Scott Howatt, a processing specialist with the P.E.I. Potato Board.
Golf balls and any other "foreign material" such as loose plastic or metal that has blown into fields has to be removed during the harvesting process.
"Golf balls can cause some pretty serious issues at the processing plants. If they make it through the grading system and the fluming system, they can get into the knives and cause real damage there," Howatt said.
"Nobody wants to purchase non-potato material and nobody wants to have the risk of having it in their food."
Food safety issue
Howatt said one farmer recently pulled an entire bucket of golf balls from a single field.
"It's a food safety issue that all of our growers take very seriously and do the very best that they can to remove all that stuff and golf balls," he said. "When they get covered in dirt, they look like a potato going through the system."
While a bad slice on the course can send a golf ball into a potato field, animals have been known to pick them up and drop them there too, Howatt said.
Hans Wilting, owner of Linden Lee Farm Enterprises in Meadowbank, said he's scooped up many golf balls from his field.
"We do have fields that are around a lot of summer cottages. People often take their golf clubs to summer cottages and those cottages might have tourists that might not be aware of what golf balls will do," he said.
"Please don't shoot golf balls into fields."
If any of his workers see a golf ball while out in the field they stop the tractor, pick it up and get rid of it. But, he said, doing that can mean the process takes a lot longer.
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