Like many farmers, Nova Agri CEO Earl Kidston was struggling with a big problem: internal decay in his onions. After a long process, he found the key that would finally solve the issue: a new electronic grader with improved, advanced technology delivered by Eqraft.
Located in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, Nova Agri is a Canadian agri-food company. CEO Earl Kidston is a fourth-generation farmer. They sell their produce to retailers all over Atlantic Canada. ‘Customers choose us because we’ve created long-lasting relationships with them over the years and they know we’re dependable,’ says Kidston. Onions for the fresh market are among the crops they’re focused on: together with another Valley producer, the Swetnam family, the Kidstons now produce and market more than 18 million pounds of onions annually.
A challenging problem
In 2017, like many agricultural entrepreneurs, Kidston and his team were struggling with a problem: they couldn’t seem to solve the issue of internal decay. In onions, internal decay cannot be detected on the grading table or with traditional grading technology, because the onion may look fine on the outside while it’s rotten on the inside. Kidston: "Once we realized that, we knew that not defeating this problem meant financial disaster for us. We had to give it our all to fix this. Good wasn’t good enough anymore: we needed excellence."
New, top-of-the-line scanners supplied by Biometic were what finally got the Eqrader to the level of excellence Nova Agri needed. "Over the past five years, the neural network that is at the basis of the Eqrader’s technology has been trained extensively. Thanks to improvements in the state-of-the-art scanners that internally check the onions, we can now guarantee a higher sorting accuracy," explains Nico Bredenhoff, project manager at Eqraft.
The new Eqrader is currently being tested extensively at Nova Agri’s premises. Besides the electronic grader, the line also includes bin tippers, evenflows, conveyor belts, and waste bunkers. On top of that, Dutch manufacturer Symach, with whom Eqraft often collaborates, has supplied and installed their technically advanced palletizing system on-site.
Top-notch grading
Once the new line will be up and running, Kidston will finally be able to give his customers exactly what they want. "We’ll be able to tailor the product exactly to our customers’ wishes," he declares.
The Eqrader will also enable him to supply his customers with a print-out of the grading record for every load of onions, giving them a concrete quality guarantee and building customer satisfaction. Nova Agri will be the first in their area with an electronic grader and the first Eqraft client that uses this advanced technology, giving them a head start on competitors.
Kidston concludes, "Going forward, we will continue to develop a name for excellence in onion quality and customer service, replace imported onions with locally produced ones, create an enhanced recognition for Canadian onions that encourages consumers to support the local industry, and foster growth in the onion industry by working together with other producers who may not have enough onions."
For more information:
Rutger Keurhorst
Eqraft
Tel: +31 527 256 130
Email: info@eqraft.com
www.eqraft.com