Butter and Yogurt Processing on the Farm and Thermal Weeding on Sugar Beet

Case studies - Tech&Bio - Hubert Verier

Dairy cattle farming Dairy cattle farmingOn-farm processing Production valorization Thermal weeder Weeding Agricultural equipment and machinery Self-construction Crop-livestock farming

Nord (department)

45

2.5

Dairy cattle farming

Potatoes

Sugar beet

Mixed cropping

Cereals

Grain maize

Fodder beet

Alfalfa

Organic Farming

Hubert and Catherine Verier.

For more than five years, Hubert Verier and his wife Catherine have been processing the milk from their cows into yogurts and butter. The transition to Organic Farming has boosted their sales. Today, half of the 100,000 liters produced on the farm is processed.

Identity card

• Farm : EARL Verier.
• Location : Hazebrouck, Nord (59).
• Date of installation  : Hubert Verier in 2005 and Catherine Verier in 2012.
• FTE : 2.
• UAA : 45 ha.
• Productions : 30 dairy cows and 100,000 liters of milk, meadows alfalfa (22 ha), mixed cropping (6 ha), cereals (5 ha), sugar beet (4 ha), fodder beet (1 ha), grain maize (4 ha), potato (3 ha).
• Specifications : Organic Farming.
• Marketing : Cooperative Prospérité Fermière, direct selling and organic stores, LeCourtCircuit.fr

Context of implementation

Half of the farm's milk production is processed into yogurts, butter, and soon cheese.

In the Nord, in Hazebrouck, Hubert Verier took over the family farm in 2005. His wife Catherine joined him in 2012, and together they decided to start a dairy processing workshop. "This project was Catherine's idea," explains Hubert Verier. In 2016, the dairy market situation was not very good and after a quick market study, we realized that very few farms were Organic and even fewer offered yogurts."

For the organic transition, the couple was supported by the GABNOR and Bio in Hauts-de-France. For Hubert Verier, motivation is essential to convert to organic : "It goes relatively well, you just have to want to do it."

Implementation steps

• End of 2016 : The couple begins an 18-month organic conversion and starts producing their first yogurts.
• 2017 : The farm receives the "Organic Farming" label, yogurt sales explode and production increases from 80 to 3,000 yogurts per week.
• 2018 : To meet this growing demand, a new building dedicated to logistics (packaging, cold room) is built.
• 2019 : Butter is added to the range of plain, fruit, and vanilla yogurts. "We invested in a churn. We make sweet and semi-salted butter which now represents half of the volumes produced on the farm," says Hubert Verier.
• Today: the 30 cows of EARL Verier produce nearly 100,000 liters per year, half of which is processed on the farm, while the rest is collected by the cooperative Prospérité Fermière.

To optimize production, the farmer introduced the Normande breed into his Prim’holstein herd : "In organic farming, cows are less pushed, they have far fewer health problems. I introduced the Normande to have even more robust cows that make the best use of the pasture system. Moreover, I chose this breed for its cheese-making quality."

Marketing

Yogurts produced on the farm.

For marketing, the products are first sold through the Biocoop network and a regional wholesaler, EARL Verier is also listed on the online sales site "LeCourtCircuit.fr". Some artisan bakers and restaurateurs also work with the farmer. "We also wanted to keep some human contact with people. People sometimes prefer to come to the farm rather than a small shop on Saturday morning."

Other activities on the farm

The thermal weeder was built from a potato stopper, gas bottles, weeders, collars, and pipes.

In addition to livestock farming, Hubert Verier cultivates cereals, potatoes to make organic fries, maize grain, mixed cropping, alfalfa and also fodder and sugar beets. "Three years ago, Tereos was looking for Organic producers. In the processing workshop, we use sugar and I admit I prefer to use organic white sugar produced in Hauts-de-France rather than another organic sugar coming from the other side of the planet," says the farmer.

Where there is beet, there is weeding. "In conventional farming, it is not easy to have a clean crop, so imagine in organic!" exclaims Hubert Verier. To solve this problem, the farmer turned to thermal weeding with the help of a colleague in market gardening who was already practicing it. He designed his own six-row thermal weeder inspired by domestic thermal weeders.

Results

With the increase in sales of processed products, Hubert Verier decided to switch to single milking to free up time for his personal and family life.

"In Organic Farming, we are more willing to try new techniques because we have no backup", admits the farmer, who is currently building a new laboratory to make cheese.

"With a small farm, by doing some valorization of by-products and processing, I think everyone can make it. Organic Farming helped, I think, with the trend effect, but we took the step, we started trials, innovations. We wanted to do it and it worked. Everything is possible, it’s a matter of will."

Perspectives

Skimmed milk cheese style Bergues or bloomy rind cheese like a brie or camembert, the idea is not yet finalized but the first wheels will be available in winter.

Sources

• Tech&Bio.2021.The 14 Laureates 2021 Tech&Bio.https://www.tech-n-bio.com/en/archives-1/international-techbio-fair-2021/les-talents