In Emmeloord, with more than 60 employees, Eqraft designs, builds and maintains solutions for agricultural companies worldwide. The company supplies machines for sorting, processing and packing potatoes, onions and bulk. “With our expertise, machines and software, we contribute to more profitable and reliable companies. With our participation in the NAO Holland Pavilion at PotatoEurope, we want to present our products and developments to the potato sector,” says account manager Tiemen Markerink.

“Eqraft is a Dutch machine builder, which originated from ERC. We develop products based on market demand. We offer our customers a wide portfolio of machines. In addition to supplying individual machines, we mainly focus on turnkey projects. We do this with our own products and with products from partner companies such as Symach and Modesta. We have a wide range available. This ranges from cleaning machines to sorting and packing machines. We opt for a long service life when developing the machines. That is an important argument for our industrial customers. Of course, we also have machines that are suitable for small (agricultural) companies. Currently, we primarily see demand coming from the market where automation and continuity are important. Customers choose us because of our durable machines with a longer lifespan. An example in the potato sector is larger seed potato growers. We supply machines here that can automatically bag jute. Since this is often done on demand, these companies attach great value to a reliable machine." explains Markerink.

 Developments for the potato sector

“During PotatoEurope we will show that we carry a wide product range for the potato sector. Here we can provide complete turn-key projects in the field of seed and consumption potatoes. However, in recent years,we have mainly focused our attention on the onion sector. In this market we have designed an optical cup sorter: the Eqrader. This machine is now fully developed and is already running at a large number of customers in the Netherlands and abroad. Eqraft is exploring the possibilities of applying this optical sorting technique in the potato sector as well. Together with potato processors and packers, we want to investigate how we can make the transition from the onion sector to the potato sector”, Markerink invites visitors to enter a conversation with Eqraft during PotatoEurope. He states that a fixed cup where the product is stationary and passes under cameras, gives an accurate picture of the tuber. “This also allows us to look through the product. We collect the light that passes through it in a spectrometer and we can draw conclusions from that. That already works very well in the onions. Together with our partner Biomatic in Italy and our own AI engineers, we have already carried out a first test in potatoes. We are convinced that this technique is an important addition for companies in the potato market. We focus on unwashed potatoes, where the technique is suitable for both seed and consumption potatoes. Together with partners in the potato chain, we want to perfect this application for the potato sector,” Markerink reveals. Visit Eqraft in the NAO-Holland Pavilion on stand T59.