French potato grower shares experience on the TOMRA 3A optical sorter

Bernard SME is a family business with a history of almost 100 years, located in Gomiécourt, in the Hauts- de-France region on the plains of the Artois (France).

After 60 years of producing potatoes, in the 1990s the company shifted from plant breeding to developing its own varieties. Today, it offers over 15 exclusive varieties, such as Osiris, Corne de Gatte, Bernadette, Blanche, Rose de France, Jeannette, Ulysse, Vitabella, among others. 

Aiming to develop its plant breeding capabilities, Bernard has recently invested in an in-house laboratory dedicated to in-vitro cultivation, which will enable it to minimize the time to obtain new varieties adapted to tomorrow’s challenges: climate change, anti-pesticide legislation, etc.

The company cultivates in 265 hectares, 30 of which are organic, and complements its production capacity with local farmers under contract to sell their crops to the company.

Its logistics and packaging facilities are organized for retail sales in trays of 60-100 seed potatoes, and they supply to garden centers in 3 kilo bags. 

A few figures to demonstrate Bernard’s activity:

- 8.000 tons sold annually

- 1.2 million packages

- A modern packaging center of 3.000 sq.m with a capacity of 3.000 tons annually

- A refrigerated area of 7.000 sq.m.

- Today, the SAS Bernard brand holds a 20% share of the French grower market.

The high quality of the Bernard brand is not self-proclaimed, it's certified. Each batch of potatoes is controlled by precise criteria and has a unique certification number on its packaging. The certifiers, representatives of the State, carry out daily checks throughout the sales season. The whole process must be controlled at all times, no quality flaw is allowed. 

Eliminating damaged tubers and cleaning the crops

This quality requirement makes the sorting stage extremely important in the value chain.

Sorting the unwashed potatoes from the field must eliminate all cut, damaged, rotten, or diseased units before storage and packaging. In addition, the sorter must expel all foreign bodies, including the earth clods remaining after the product goes through the cleaner.

In order to precisely sort damaged, rotten, cut or diseased tubers, as well as eliminate foreign bodies, in 2013, Bernard acquired a specialized sorter, TOMRA’s Field Potato Sorter (FPS), which it replaced last year with a new version, the TOMRA 3A.

According to Grégoire Volpoet, sales manager in France, the machine meets the producers’ requirements: large volumes, no bruises on the products, detection of green potatoes, robustness, statistical reports, ease of use and handling in the storage unit, etc.

The TOMRA 3A optical sorter can operate without limitation on working hours, and adapt to the pace of harvesting and arrivals. Thanks to these capabilities, the Bernard company increased its propagation surfaces, provided its partner farmers with work without being overwhelmed. All the potatoes that arrive are timely sorted, stored, and packaged in its warehouses.

Victor Dhers, production manager at SAS Bernard stated that the machine sorts at a constant rate, regardless of the quality of the batch. Even when the potatoes are very dirty as they leave the field, the TOMRA 3A recognizes them and eliminates clods. The manager added that next year they plan to start sorting onions with the same machine.