Global Trends and Issues relating
to the Production and Marketing of Perishable Horticultural
Crops
(Source: Rod Lewis,
Managing
Director, Agon Pty Limited)
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Mr. Lewis on one of Agon Pty
Limited's orchard's in Adelaide |
Distribution of farm products is a
major problem for society. All produce, whether fruit or
vegetable, is subject to movement from farm to consumer.
In today's marketing chain, this movement time can vary from
a few hours to several months, depending on where it is grown
and where it is consumed. In modern society, people world
wide, tend to live in large cities and farm their food crops
in remote areas where land and water are both cheap and more
plentiful.
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For
many reasons, this trend looks set to continue and as a
consequence, distribution of farm products as we know them
today will probably remain a major problem to society's
worldwide well into the foreseeable future.
Effective distribution
system needed to meet consumer demands
Consumers'worldwide expectations for horticultural crops are now, for year
round supply, of export quality at affordable prices at consumer purchasing
(retail)
level. To fulfil this requirement, the industry will need a system of cost-effective
production, transportation and handling for long lines of product which has
its shelf life maximised.
Product temperature
abuse has been an "age old" problem
All fresh horticultural products are living (even after harvest). On being harvested,
it immediately starts to die. By far the most important factor in controlling
the life of any produce is temperature control. Because different commodities
require different temperatures for optimum shelf life, loading, transporting,
storing and handling through the distribution chain with precise |
temperature control
has to date been impossible.Many
handlers tend to "ride shotgun" over temperature
control, by choosing the temperature of the product with
the highest temperature requirement to avoid damage to
a mixed load. The result, at best, is a very poor outturn
of products requiring a colder environment. Loads of mixed
product requiring the same temperature sometimes cannot
be mixed because of ethylene gas given off by one product,
which has a devastating effect on another. Even where complete
loads of any one product are transhipped, there is often
unacceptable variation of temperature at "outturn".
This can generally be attributed to the configuration
of the load and/or the capacity of the refrigeration
system/s.
QPods™ have
the potential to remove all these problems
The use of QPods™ for horticultural crops has the potential to remove all
these problems for the industry overnight. The technology is an exciting, simple
and common sense approach to solve an "age old" problem that exists
world wide between farm and consumer.
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