Operation Essential Harvest (or Task Force Harvest) was a deployment mission in the Republic of Macedonia by NATO, officially launched on August 22, 2001 and effectively started on August 27. Because national contributions were larger than expected, the force ultimately grew to approximately 4,800 troops.Troops from the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment and members of the SAS working in the A.O.R.Working from a fruit and peanut factory, all operations to collect weapons and ammo were staged.