The Bernard SME employs 35 people and is almost one
hundred years old. It is located in Gomiécourt, 30 minutes from the Arras train station, in the Hauts-de-France region on the vast plains of the Artois.
After 60 years of cultivating its land and producing Potatoes, this family company changed its business model in the 1990s. As a plant breeder, it moved upstream of the supply chain and developed its varieties. Osiris, Bernadette, Corne de Gatte, Blanche, Jeannette, Rose de France, Ulysse, Vitabella are all propagated here: to date, the Bernard company offers no less than 15 exclusive varieties, resulting from multi-year selection programs.
For the production of seed potatoes the company relies on its vocation as a producer, and as a logistics operator for their sale.
The company cultivates its 265 ha – 30 are organic – and complements its production capacity with local farming partners under contract to sell their crops to the company.
As a seed potato grower, being demanding is not about marketing because the impeccable quality of the Bernard brand is not self-proclaimed; it's certified. Every batch of Potatoes is controlled by
precise criteria and receives a unique certification number affixed to its packaging. The certifiers, representatives of the State, make checks daily during the sales season. No quality flaw is allowed; the entire process must be controlled at all times.
Sorting the unwashed potatoes from the field must eliminate all damaged, cut, rotten, or diseased tubers before storage and packaging. The sorter must, above all, eliminate all foreign bodies,
including the earth clods remaining after the product goes through the potato cleaner.
In 2013, Bernard chose to automate this step with an optical sorter. The company first opted for TOMRA’s FPS (Field Potato Sorter), a first-generation specialized sorter, which it replaced last year
with a new model, the TOMRA 3A.
"This machine meets the requirements of producers: large volumes, detection of green potatoes, no bruises on the products, great robustness, ease of use and handling in the storage unit, statistical
reports, etc.", explains Grégoire Volpoet, sales manager in France.
The TOMRA 3A optical sorter makes a big difference for this specialized grower. During the harvest season, the machine can operate with no limitation on working hours, and adapt to the pace of
harvesting and arrivals. This has enabled the Bernard company to increase its propagation surfaces, give work to its partner farmers without being overwhelmed. All the Potatoes that arrive are sorted,
stored, and packaged in its warehouses without delay.
"The machine sorts at a constant rate, regardless of the quality of the batch it receives. Even if the potatoes are very earthy as they leave the field, the optical sorter recognizes them and eliminates
any clods. This consistency in the sorting result contributes to quality control, which leads to certification of the batches," explains Victor Dhers, production manager at SAS Bernard. "And next year, we might extend the use of the machine to sorting Onions, which SA Bernard trades."
For more information:
Marijke Bellemans
Tomra
Tel: +32 (0)476 74 19 18
Email: marijke.bellemans@tomra.com
www.tomra.com/food