Potato World vision Seeing the field through the stems The potato chain is largely automated nowadays and data is collected everywhere. The farmer collects data about his crop, about the soil moisture and about the weather in order to control the cultivation as best he can. He also undertakes crop registration for himself or for third parties to show that he is a responsible farmer. The farmer then records that information in his storage facility in order to store his crop properly. The trader records data to administer the potatoes and manage his stocks, and the end user records the quality, quantity and possible ways of using a potato lot. Moreover, there are also third parties that monitor and record all kinds of data. This could be the inspection results of the NAK (General Inspection Service for Agricultural Seed and Seed Potatoes), for example, or the weather details from the KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute). This data is often only used once, at one location, for one specific purpose. At the same time, the data is spread over many lots and files. When put together, all that data contains a potential wealth of information that could lead to improvements in the chain, at least when the information is turned into practical knowledge. This is the area of Big Data. Big Data in the potato chain is one of the territories I work as lecturer on Potato Chain and Sector Innovation. This lectureship was started on 1 November 2014. To develop knowledge from Big Data, two things are necessary. In the first place, the chain parties must be willing to collaborate and make data available in order to generate usable knowledge. In addition, you need expertise, which is abundantly available within the lectureship and CAH Vilentum (training centre for higher agricultural education) in Dronten. With the Agro food cluster in Emmeloord – especially the NAK – an initial step is being taken, but everyone who may want to collaborate is hereby invited to contact me. Big Data helps to extract knowledge from the diversity of data so that we will see ‘the wood through the trees’ or in potato terms ‘see the field through the stems’. Peter Kooman Lecturer, Potato Chain and Sector Innovation CAH Vilentum Dronten PW-ACTUA Dutch potato technology finds its way to Belarus APH Group Engineering recently delivered and installed a big scale line for grading, washing and packing of potatoes to one of her clients in the Northeast region of Belarus. APH tells that the biggest challenge was to get all desired machines fit in the compact building. Several new solutions were applied to be able to design the line in such a way that all desired components were included. First of all the grader has been placed above the bunkers to reduce the floor surface. Secondly the brushing machines as well as the roller inspection tables are placed on platforms to be able to keep the floor space free. A palletizing line is equipped with a 90° angled conveyor to be able to place the palletizer on the best possible position. Several routings can be chosen from the central PLC with touchscreen, which means maximum flexibility for the customer. The dry line consists out of 3 brushing machines with integrated by-pass conveyors. In this way the brushers can be by-passed partly or completely by sliding the conveyor over the brushes inside of the machine. This invention makes it possible for the enduser to change the brushing intensity. The washing line consists out of a drum washer in combination with an active polisher to achieve the best possible cleaning result for the end product. The 16 bucket combination weighing machine assures maximum accuracy and capacity for the 2 automatic bagging machines. The potatoes will be packed in 2,5 kg PE-bags, as well as 20-25 kg mesh bags. The mesh bags will be stacked automatically and wrapped on a pallet to prepare them for transport. The line is able to reach capacities between 10-15 ton/ hour, depending on the chosen routing and product quality. APH Group Engineering fulfilled this prestigious project together with its’ partners: Bijlsma Hercules, Tummers, Haith Group, Schouten Sorting Equipment, Manter, Symach Palletizers and Jongejans Dust Collectors. ● Belarussian company invest in a complete APH-potatoline. Potato World 2015 • number 1 9 Pagina 8
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