This past Friday, potato cooperative Agrico officially opened its new Quality Centre in the Netherlands. The Centre was built last year behind the company’s head office in Emmeloord.
In a press release issued today, Agrico says it built this centre to monitor and increase the quality of its potato varieties. At the centre, efficient inspections are performed to obtain greater insight into the internal and external quality and also the vitality of its potatoes. This information will help Agrico identify the right destination for each lot and contribute to guaranteeing the quality of potatoes sold to customers. Agrico will also use the data to optimise how the potatoes are grown and stored.
Quality is monitored using specialized equipment, including a line of machinery custom-built for Agrico by RMA-Techniek.
The quality centre also has special climate chambers that provide insight into the quality properties of varieties under different conditions. The latest technology is applied to register all relevant data at the centre and link this to Agrico’s central information and management systems.
Activities at the new quality centre have already started at the beginning of the new season last August. The experiences until now are very positive. The centre satisfies the expectations of the cooperative and its growers and customers.
Managing Director Jan van Hoogen: “The Agrico Quality Center has been operating for six months now. We have already processed more than 10,000 individual samples. Investing in this quality centre represents a giant leap forward in innovation and digitisation that prepares us for the future. This centrally located facility that uses the latest technology to monitor quality places us firmly at the cutting edge of our sector.
“The data registered and collected here gives us the tools to take our organisation to an even higher level of performance. It also signals significant advances along the road to the projected growth and professionalism of Agrico.”
The official opening ceremony of the Agrico Quality Center was performed in the morning by local mayor Mr Harald Bouman, who activated the tare machine by discharging a lot of potatoes whilst being watched by a select group of invited guests.
In his speech mayor Bouman congratulated Agrico and its members with the entrepreneurship needed to realize this quality centre as a cooperative. In the afternoon Agrico held a well visited open day for its members and other invited guests.
The video below provides a brief overview of the Quality Centre. It can also be viewed online on Vimeo
