Maison Bayard
Maison Bayard has been establishing unique and highly specialised expertise in Picardy’s Santerre region since 1910.
It is run by enterprising farmers, Françoise and Bertrand Bayard, who rear Hampshire sheep and grow sugar beet, high quality cereals and potatoes.
Bayard is a pioneering brand that constantly seeks to explore new markets. In 1997, the firm decided to broaden its production of high quality flavoursome potatoes by distributing crops grown by thirty or so other growers under a new label, Bayard Distribution. This new venture has helped them to become renowned potato experts. Bayard’s core values include:
- Preserving the family’s traditional know-how while simultaneously developing a unique vision of the potato in France and internationally
- Treating potatoes with great care and attention from the time of planting through to their sale
A pioneering family
The Bayard family’s enterprising spirit continues to run strong. In 2008, their daughter Adèle (a marketing graduate specialising in Rural Law and the Agricultural Economy) who had always followed the family’s developments, joined the family firm.
As did their son, Florent (former Communications Director for the town of Enghien) in 2017.
These “leaders” manage the company with determination and enthusiasm. Human interaction is very important to them as they are, above all, a close-knit family. They share a passion for discovery, exploring new regions and sharing their newly unearthed culinary findings – potatoes, precious tubers, “little” gems – as widely as possible.
Agriculture standards
The company naturally meets sustainable agriculture standards:
- Growers all conform to Afnor NF-V-25-111 standards and have GlobalGap certification.
- An independent audit is conducted every year. The packhouse meets Afnor NF-V-25-112 standards.
Production
Modern and efficient! Those are two keywords that best describe Bayard’s activities.
Maison Bayard employs 29 people (5 in their offices, 4 at the farm and 15 in the packhouse).
In 2007, the farm upgraded its facilities, moving to a new ultra-modern packhouse to boost output and improve safety. Up to 8,000 tons of potatoes can now be stored in optimum conditions.
Computerised management systems are used to trace the origin of every potato and batch numbers to track their movements from field to store.
The team also uses optical sizing and weighing systems to process potatoes for the microwave market.
Founded by 15 French chefs, internationally recognized, le Collège Culinaire de France contributes to the influence of French culture and gastronomic economy.
Maison Bayard is proud to belong to this associative movement since 2015 as a “producteur artisan de qualité” and to promote its values, in particular diversity to counter food standardization.
Attached to their Picardie terroir, it made sense for Maison Bayard to participate in the collective brand Terroirs Hauts-de-France. The potatoes cultivated in Picardie are approved after official analysis and tasting by a professional jury attentive to a set of specifications.