By AgroFresh

Maturity at harvest continues to be the most critical factor during pre-harvest that influences post-harvest life, especially for apple growers.

Apples are sensitive to a vegetal hormone called ethylene, which fast-tracks the ripening process. Reducing the negative effect of ethylene in the orchard is key to navigating a strong harvest program and delivering the freshest quality with minimum food waste.

This year will be remembered in our ag playbooks due to the global pandemic. Each year, growers must make difficult, real-time decisions to determine the ideal harvest date for their orchard. Factors include size, color development and intrinsic quality parameters affected by ethylene such as starch degradation, pulp firmness and acidity.

Local starch scores of apples

In 2020, there are a few new items weighing on grower’s minds. In addition to their typical harvest consideration checklist, growers are now facing a vastly different labor management landscape: shortages due to implementing extra safety measures, health-related worker absences, and disrupted H2-A visa programs.

Harvista™ 1.3 SC, an AgroFresh solution, is typically used to control peak ripeness for greater fruit quality, increased orchard revenue and more peace of mind. As the only near-harvest 1-MCP application on the market, Harvista creates new flexibility for growers during their harvest programs, especially this year.

“The world is unpredictable and AgroFresh is working to ease growers’ minds when it comes to harvest planning,” says Darrell Riddle, Global Harvista Business Lead.

Amidst a global crisis, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food granted an exceptional use authorization for Harvista for 120 days in Spain beginning July 13, 2020.  The application of Harvista will help manage the fruit harvest in the best conditions despite labor shortages.

In the USA this apple season, AgroFresh is offering new advantages to growers that complement the use of Harvista and strengthen overall harvest management capabilities. Two new services and tools are being introduced to help maximize 2020 harvest programs and workforce management.

The first service is FreshCloud™ Harvest View, a digitized starch analysis aid for faster maturity assessments and optimal Harvista application timing, harvest scheduling and apple quality going into storage. It was developed to empower growers to get a better view of their orchard and harvest programs.

FreshCloud Harvest View will be accessible from the existing FreshCloud.report portal that current customers use to access their operation’s monitoring data and analytics. The second introduction debuting this season is the Harvista Calibration Tool, a mobile application that allows quick, convenient calculation for optimum Harvista calibration accuracy. This phone app directs users to plug-in a few metrics based on their orchard equipment and set up, and then provides quick, easy calibration direction for orchard sprayers

In orchards across the world, AgroFresh’s Harvista technology continues to expand and help enhance fruit quality in many crops such as blueberries, cherries, pears, grapes, kiwifruit, and plums.

For more information on Harvista, FreshCloud Harvest View, and other AgroFresh technologies visit www.agrofresh.com.