The 2023 cherry campaign marks the acquisition by Sicoly of a new, state-of-the-art grading machine. “At the end of May, we replaced our old machine with this new 10-line grading machine, capable of sorting and grading 5 tons of cherries per hour. Today, it is the biggest cherry grading machine in France,” explains Jean-Bernard Cherblanc of the Sicoly cooperative, which produces 1,800 tons of cherries every year.
Arrival line
Optimizing cherry quality to access the most profitable markets
With this acquisition, which required an investment of 2 million euros [2.25 million USD], the objective was to simplify the work of cherry growers while guaranteeing optimum fruit quality for the consumer. “First and foremost, we wanted to acquire this machine to simplify the work of our producers, who do not need to do the sorting in the orchards anymore. It saves them a lot of time. Secondly, this new grading machine helps us improve the quality of the cherries we sell, which gives us access to the most lucrative markets. It also enables us to increase the profitability of our new orchards, which were costly due to the measures we took to combat drosophila and weather hazards.”
Hydrocooling
Fine settings for the best quality
When the fruit enters the machine, the first hydrocooling stage cools the cherries to their core, stopping their ripening and firming them up. Their passage through cool, purified water extends their shelf life. Once individualized by a stalk separator, each cherry is photographed from all angles by multispectral optical cameras. Inspection of the images allows us to detect all external defects, as well as some internal ones, in order to rule out the damaged fruit. “These cameras can detect a drosophila sting from the previous day, sometimes invisible to the naked eye. These very fine adjustments ensure impeccable cherry quality.”
The technology of this grading machine also avoids the bumping and rubbing of the cherries, determines their color and measures the diameter of each one optically. The fruit is then qualified, graded and divided into 24 outlets, according to homogeneous sizes and colors. All fruit is conveyed in cold, pure water, for greater gentleness.
Very positive feedback for this first campaign
A substantial investment that the fruit cooperative does not regret making.
“We are reaching the end of the season and we have received excellent feedback from our clients, who have clearly seen the difference between cherries graded by the old machine and those graded by the new one. The new machine has really enabled us to make better use of the quality of our cherries on a market that is rather down this year. We did not really have any major weather event, but the load on the trees was not very big either, with a harvest reaching only 60% of its potential. At least, the marketing campaign went really well.”
For more information:
Amélie Pouriel
Sicoly
Phone: 04 28 70 13 65
a.pouriel@sicoly.fr