What processing is possible on the farm depending on production?

Technical articles - Diversification

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On-farm processing

Sorting out-of-spec products, unsold goods, seasonal overproduction or simply the need to add value, processing and diversifying, many producers wonder what can be done on the farm. But also what are the advantages and disadvantages of each product? Here is a non-exhaustive overview of possibilities classified according to raw material families : fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, cereals.

How to process my production

Ranges	Families	Product examples	Strengths	Points of attention
Fruits and vegetables	2nd range	Canned (metal or glass)	Shelf life	Investment
				Technical training for autoclave
	3rd range	Frozen	Shelf life	Storage
				Freezer investment
				Low added value
	4th range	Fresh ready-to-use	Freshness	Short shelf life Hygiene
			Customer service
	5th range	Cooked ready-to-eat (vacuum-packed pasteurized or sterilized)	Complement to 4th range
			Shelf life
			Added value
	6th range	Freeze-dried / dehydrated	Shelf life	Long process
			Low investment
	Sorbet	Sorbet or ice cream	Shelf life	Investment Know-how
			Added value
	Fruit and vegetable juices	Juices	Shelf life	Investment
			Anti-waste
	Soups	All types of vegetables	Shelf life	Investment
			Anti-waste	Technical training for autoclave
	Jams	All types of fruits and even vegetables	Simple process
			Low cost
			Freezing raw materials
	Pickles	Preservation in vinegar	Shelf life	Long process (storage)
	Lacto-fermented vegetables	All vegetables. The simplest  : cabbage, carrots, gherkins, cucumbers	Shelf life	Long process (storage)
			Trend (probiotics)
Meat products	Raw charcuterie	Sausages (pork)		Short shelf life
		Merguez (beef, lamb)		Investment
	Cooked charcuterie	Pâtés, confits, blood sausages, ham, hot smoking	Traditional recipes	Know-how
				Investment
	Dry cured charcuterie	Sausage, ham, dried meat	Shelf life	Storage space
			Added value	Cash flow
	Prepared dishes	Based on local recipes	Traditional recipes	Know-how
	Fish (trout, rainbow trout)	Raw cut, smoked fillets, rillettes, salted eggs	Original	Know-how
Cereal products	Classic biscuits	Anything is possible	Shelf life
	Biscuits with stale bread	Based on crushed stale bread	Anti-waste	R&D
	Fermented beverages	Beers	Trend Added value	Know-how Investment
	Biscuits with brewing grains	Based on brewing leftovers	Anti-waste	R&D
	Fresh pastry - viennoiserie	Classic pastries, local, brioches	Freshness	Know-how
			Local recipes
	Dry pasta	Tagliatelle, lasagna	Shelf life	Process duration
	Fresh pasta	Tagliatelle, torti, penne, etc.	Market trend	Storage quality
Dairy products	Milk	Raw milk, pasteurized milk, UHT milk	Simple process	Investment
				Pasteurization
				Regulations
	Cream	Raw cream, pasteurized cream, maturation into crème fraîche, whipped cream	Added value	Hygiene
			Margin	Process duration
			Market trend	Freshness
	Butter	Churned butter (raw or pasteurized, salted or unsalted)	Margin	Investment
			Trend
	Cheeses	Fresh cheese, pressed tommes, soft, lactic & aged cheeses	Shelf life	Regulations
			Variety	Know-how
			Local terroir
	Lacto-fermented products	Plain/stirred/drinkable yogurts, buttermilk	Market trend	Hygiene
			Variety	Short shelf life
	Desserts	Rice pudding, dessert creams, custard	Innovation	Food safety
				Hygiene
	Sorbet/Ice cream	Artisanal ice cream (cream ice cream, sorbet)	Added value	Investment

Regulations

• Hygiene rules must be followed in animal and plant production, detailed in the Food Law, Regulation (EC) No 178/2002.

• The Regulation 852/2004 on food hygiene applies to all operators in the food sector, whether at the primary production, processing or distribution stage, and regardless of the production sectors. It requires, among other things, the implementation of procedures based on HACCP principles (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) within a food safety management plan (except for primary production).

• For meat and fish the European sanitary approval or exemption from this approval should be considered depending on volumes and intended points of sale.

For more information on regulatory aspects, see the following article :

Advice before starting

• For fruits and vegetables, there is a common framework : digging up, trimming, cutting and washing before processing which allows having some shared facilities for several envisaged processing types.

• Know-how and recipe choice are very important for processing meat and cereal products. The R&D (research and development) and testing phase is therefore quite long when starting from scratch.

• Carefully study the variables of each solution :
  • Investments.
  • Costs.
  • Labor.
  • Training.

• Conduct a market study which, besides understanding customer expectations, will provide information on sales/distribution channels. When creating a workshop, whatever it is, clear initial data (volumes to process, seasonality, quantities to produce, etc.) allows for the proper sizing of the project. Indeed, after describing the manufacturing process, the choice of equipment and automation of certain steps will really depend on the expected volumes.

To go further

See our file dedicated to short supply chains.

Sources

This article was written thanks to the kind contribution of Agrovertis.