A potato planter is a

farm implement Agricultural equipment is any kind of machinery used on a farm to help with farming. The best-known example of this kind is the tractor. Tractor and power *Tractor / Two-wheel tractor * Tracked tractor / Caterpillar tractor Soil cultiv ...

for

sowing Sowing is the process of planting seeds. An area that has had seeds planted in it will be described as a sowed or sown area. Plants which are usually sown Among the major field crops, oats, wheat, and rye are sown, grasses and legumes are ...

seed

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es. Hand potato planters, often referred to as foot-operated planters, are long-handled tools attached to a hinged "beak". The tuber is placed into the planter-beak and penetrated into the ground by means of stepping on the planter base with the foot. The handle is then angled, thus opening the base and allowing the tubing to be planted into the soil. A manual planter is sometimes called a bell planter, which may have two farm hands sitting on the back whilst taking potatoes from a hopper. The length between potatoes is tolled by a

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

, at the sound of which potatoes are thrown down tubes. An automatic planter is hitched behind a

farm tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commonly, ...

with a three-point linkage and

towed Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. ...

. Cups lift seed potatoes from a hopper and drop them in tubes, planting up to eight drills at a time.

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Agricultural machinery {{Horticulture-stub