Today, farmers want (and must) diversify more and more, and seek added value to their farm, to earn additional income. Many of them now process their products themselves. On the Beauvais campus of the engineering school UniLaSallewhere farmers are training in this diversification, the students are also taking part in the game. They have just brought to fruition a hell of a project, by creating a dairy processing workshop.
Yogurt, cottage cheese, and mozzarella
Near Agrilab, route de Crèvecoeur, everything is in one piece: the stable and its 70 Prim’Holstein dairy cows, the brand new 100 m2 dairy processing workshop, and the direct sales area of products. “It reconnects farmers, food and society», notes Sébastien Windsor, president of the school and the Chambers of Agriculture during the inauguration of the workshop, Wednesday December 18.
On sale, we find stirred yogurts, farm yogurts, cottage cheese, but also mozzarella. “We plan to develop other products later, such as butter or cream.», notes Augustin Philippe, 4th year student and president of the Agroteam association, who initiated this project. For the moment, three hundred liters of milk are processed each week. But the pace should quickly increase. “We aim to achieve the 16,000 yogurts per week», Announces Ségolène Ducat, manager of the dairy processing workshop.
On sale for individuals and supplied to Crous
In addition to direct sales, students also offer their yogurts to Crousthe university canteen, and perhaps one day to schools, colleges and high schools in Beauvais. “A great partnership will emerge in the months to come», Promises Anne-Françoise Lebreton, deputy mayor of Beauvais in charge, in particular, of school catering.
For individuals, who can freely access the sales area open 24 hours a day, yogurts are sold from €2.75 for four. Several choices are offered: plain yogurt or flavored with vanilla, strawberry or peach, stirred yogurt plain or with a bed of red fruits, chestnut cream or exotic fruits, mozzarella, plain or flavored fromage blanc, fromage frais, etc. “Small spreadable aperitif cheeses go very well, especially on Thursday evenings, students must love them for their evenings», smiles Philippe Choquet, director of the school. Teachers and employees of UniLaSalle also do not hesitate to come and stock up on local products. In addition, other products from local farmers are also on sale, such as eggs or pasta.
The brand, for its part, was also created by students of the Agroteam association. Her name is «Unique». «We do marketing and production», specifies Augustin Philippe.
A project costing nearly €500,000
This project obviously has a cost. In addition to setting up the sales area, it was necessary to create the processing workshop from A to Z, where we find numerous machines: two tanks of 300 and 600 liters, a buffer tank, a churn, a cream separator, a conditioner, a continuous pasteurizer, or even a mozzarella spinner. Partly subsidized by Europe, the region and the department, this project cost almost €500,000 in total.
But this workshop will serve students for many years. “The objective is to involve students in the school’s strategic projects alongside the farm team.explains Philippe Choquet. There’s a lot of energy here. And it’s not a practical room (practical work). We are the last farm in the Beauvais region, we must take advantage of it!» And UniLaSalle students won’t be the only ones to benefit from it. Farmers are trained there and classes of school and college students will be able to come and visit the workshop. “This is why we also chose to bring everything together in the same place.notes Grégoire Forzy, director of UniLaSalle farms. We left a corridor between the stall and the workshop, so that consumers can come and see how things are done.»
UniLaSalle’s future engineers, for their part, do not intend to stop there. In the coming weeks, new recipes will be concocted. Butter and cream will most certainly be offered for sale. And a partnership could be considered with the school’s FoodLab to create compotes that will flavor their yogurts. So many ideas for diversifying the farming profession.
