A Ten years of Smart Grader practical experience: ‘grading much more seed’ CU LTIVATION AND TECHNOLOGY ADING INSTALLATION Table Yield Standard Size 28-35 35-45 45-55 35-55* >55** ** Total Key Kilos Price/100 kg Euros Size 35.00 7,000 44,000 27,000 2,450 30.00 13,200 63,000 28.00 17,640 14.00 3,780 200,000 * valuation 2 ** ware *** animal feed 48,000 1.25 600 38,000 1.25 475 34,365 28-35 35-45 45-55 >55*** ** Smart Grader Kilos Price/100 kg Euros 8,000 35.00 46,000 2,800 30.00 13,800 68,000 28,00 19,040 200,000 29,000 5.00 1,450 22,000 1.25 275 40,870 ed in another 200 tons of saleable potatoes for 4 cents extra, which meant that the farmer wasn’t left with a completely rejected lot.’ Table Expenses Kilos Supply/delivery Grading Inspection hours 1x Re-inspection Inspection hours 2x Re-inspection Inspection hours 3x Total Price/100 kg Standard Smart Grader Euros 200,000 500 130,000 0.50 114,000 0.50 Kilos Supply/delivery 200,000 1.20 2,400 Grading 110 24.00 2,640 650 Re-inspection 90 24.00 2,160 Inspection hours 1x 570 70 24.00 1,680 10,600 Total 8,310.00 The yield of the Smart Grader is considerably higher, because 56 percent more potatoes can be delivered. For treated potatoes, the difference will be even greater, because there won’t be any fermentation costs. In addition to the difference in yield, there’s also a difference in the costs. Price/100 kg Euros 200,000 0.25 500.00 200,000 2.50 5,000.00 178,000 0.50 890.00 80 24.00 1,920.00 Table Balance Standard Yield Grading costs Balance Costs/100 kg delivered Inspection hrs/1,000 kg delivered Delivered weight Smart Grader € 34,365.00 Yield € 10,600.00 Grading costs € 23,765.00 Balance € 114,000 9.30 Costs/100 kg delivered 2.4 Inspection hrs/1,000 kg delivered Delivered weight Not only is 56 percent more delivered with the Smart Grader, the costs are also lower. Thanks to optical grading, a surplus value in the balance is created of 37 percent. Difference € 40,870.00 + 19% € 8,310.00 - 22% € 32,560.00 + 37% € 178,000 4.67 - 50% 0.4 - 81% + 56% their own grader can’t deal with. This could be a lot that has a high degree of Rhizoctonia or common scabies, or with problematic sizes and/or shapes. Two years ago, there were a few lots with growth cracks and last year another lot of Lady Anna. ‘Like Spunta, there were long tubers that couldn’t be properly graded with their own grading installation. And I once graded a lot of ware potatoes with 40 percent of wire worm damage. This works well with the Smart Grader, which easily picks out the grub holes in each affected tuber. This resultComplete with bunker installation In the far southwest of the Netherlands, about 100 kilometres from Steenbergen, the seed potato business of the Uitdewilligen family is located in the Zeeland-Flemish village of Biervliet. Just like his colleague Gabriëls, he also has about five years of practical experience with the Smart Grader. Another similarity between the two is that they made no calculation before the purchase. ‘At one point, a representative came to the farm to tell us that he still had a nice grading machine on offer’, says Angelo Uitdewilligen. ‘It was all the way up in the north of the country in the shed of a colleague. So we went to have a look. Both the extensive possibilities of electronic grading plus the complete bunker installation and also the price which totalled just over 250,000 euros appealed to us. Alternatives were reciprocating graders on bunkers with a large capacity that needed extra manpower, which would also require a substantial investment. The Smart Grader also includes eight outlets, placed on bunkers, allowing the machine to continue for a long time without great effort. About 50 tons of graded product can be stored and we can fill up approximately 60 tons of stock to keep the machine working through the night, too’, the seed potato grower argues. ‘This is, in our view, the only way to do justice to the machine. You have to look at it this way. At that time, we had a really old jump grader running in the shed. Over the previous years, an increasing volume of long-oval varieties such as Spunta had passed through that machine. Everyone knows about the shortcomings of the jump grader when it comes to elongated tubers. A grader that can process them more accurately and so more in the desired size, seemed worth a challenge. That was actually the most important incentive to go ahead with the investment.’ But there was another important reason and that was the fact that Angelo’s parents were already in the Potato World 2019 • number 3 19 Pagina 18
Pagina 20Voor weekbladen, online reisgidsen en jaarverslagen zie het Online Touch beheersysteem systeem. Met de mogelijkheid voor een online winkel in uw gidsen.
Potatoworld 2019/3 Lees publicatie 53Home