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Nov 06, 2024

£2.4m investment for Farmlay Eggs - Poultry News

Egg packer Farmlay has invested in a new £2.4m state-of-the-art Sanovo Technology grader, which it says will almost double productivity in 2025. AI-based computer vision technology is at the heart of

Egg packer Farmlay has invested in a new £2.4m state-of-the-art Sanovo Technology grader, which it says will almost double productivity in 2025.

AI-based computer vision technology is at the heart of the new grading equipment that will be rolled out at Farmlay, Scotland’s second biggest egg producer, in January next year.

“Our current egg grader is giving us 500 cases an hour and this second one will give us 400, so almost double our output,” said Iain Chapman, managing director of Farmlay.

“We were at a crossover as to whether – with demand for eggs at such a high – to simply run our existing grader longer hours. However, doing that wouldn’t have been a long-term solution and could have been risky with no back up machine if there was a problem.

“We have been keenly watching the research and development going on and the Sanovo machine we are getting has been proven to be amazingly efficient, using AI to analyse high-resolution images of the eggs.”

Farmlay, which supplies Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons and Spar with its own – and a growing stable of contract producers’ eggs – is still based at the family’s Cockmuir Farm, near Strichen, Aberdeenshire, which has expanded from the original 130 to 2,500 acres, and was founded in 1946.

The investment figure of around £2.4m includes building alterations. Once at full output the second grader will generate around ten new jobs, dealing with the increased number of eggs.

“Getting the new grader installed in January will be a great way to start the New Year,” said Chapman.