Terpstra Akkerbouw

In the northwestern corner of Friesland, Bote Terpstra cultivates seed potatoes. In 2008, he passionately took over the family business. “I’ve grown it from 45 hectares, with 12 hectares of seed potatoes back then, to approximately 200 hectares of land now. Of that, 130 hectares are used for seed potatoes, 40 hectares for onions, and part for other crops or land exchange.” Since January 2023, Bote has been using the QualityGrader. “I discovered the machine through a colleague. It was exactly what I had been looking for for years. So, I ordered two right away. I am very satisfied with the results and even consider it the biggest revolution in agriculture since the arrival of GPS systems.”

Flexability

“In my warehouse, I set up a system with Van der Maar and Bijlsma Hercules. I have a network of bunkers, allowing me to sort onions, for example, while simultaneously scanning the quality of seed potatoes. With two separate lines, I can run them through the QualityGrader from Flikweert Vision. I do this during the day and even in the evenings. I even scan problem batches for third parties, because when no workers are available, I can still keep running. This solves the problem of labor shortages. For me, the flexibility is a huge added value. I am independent of personnel and work much more efficiently than before.”