Denmark is 43,094 km2, has 5.6 million inhabitants, and two optical sorting machines. One of those sorting machines is owned by family company Gyldensteen, located in Bogense on the island of Funen. The family company was founded in 1719 and the estate covers approximately 1,200 hectares. Eight hundred of those hectares are used for agricultural purposes. Their main product is onions, for which 220 hectare are used. Halloween pumpkins are their second-biggest product. In addition, they have a small apple orchard at the estate, and wheat, barley, coleseed and grass seed are cultivated.
“Our main product is onions,” says Frants Bernstorff-Gyldensteen. Most of the other crops are used as filling in the years the onion fields are not in use. “To prevent too many diseases breaking out, it is wise to rotate the onion cultivation, and not cultivate onions on the same piece of land for a period of four years.”
Two years ago the company decided to purchase an optical sorting machine. “We had been looking for a sorting machine for a while already when we bought this one,” Frants continues. “By using an optical sorting machine, we can offer better quality throughout the entire season.” It was a purely rational decision - labour costs are very high in Denmark. Working on conveyor belts and looking at onions all day is not great for employees health, so it was an easy choice to make. Annually, about 10,000 tonnes of onions roll over the belts and into the sorting machine.
“Optical sorting is an important subject, for our customers as well,” Frants says. “A bad onion further deteriorates on our customer’s shelves. We can make good use of the sorting machine when talking to our customers.” Installing the machine went well. Setting up the software to get the correct sorting also went well. “Naturally, we had to make some adjustments, and we had to learn how to operate the machine. We are still talking to Elisam for a few minor adjustments. They are thinking along with us to find a solution.”
Although the future cannot be predicted, Frants thinks the optical sorting machine is a keeper. “Sorting is becoming more intelligent, which means we will have better quality in future.” The company is only using the optical sorting line for onions. “We are focused on onions, so we have programmed the machine for those.”
JDC Onion Grading Solutions configures and installs Elisam/Ellips optical sorting systems worldwide. They can be provided as a turnkey project, or in cooperation with existing dealers, depending on the wishes and situation of the client.
JDC organises demonstration days throughout Europe in order to introduce onion processors and packers to the new technology. The latest demonstration day was at Gyldensteen Godsm Denmark (see photographs). The next demonstration day will take place in Switzerland at the beginning of November. More information about the demonstration days can be found at jdcgrading.com.
Gyldensteen Godsm Denemarken
fbg@gyldensteen.dk
JDC Grading
Bas Ruygrok
Tel: +31 (0)223 660 666
bas@jdcgrading.com