Improving postharvest handling practices for fresh fruits and vegetables in the state of Georgia

Summary

In September of 2019, Dr. Deltsidis started to develop a hands-on Extension and research program aiming at the improvement of postharvest handling practices in the state of Georgia. The ultimate goal is to evaluate existing and novel postharvest technologies and promote their adoption to reduce quality losses of fresh produce that are produced or traded in the State of Georgia.

Situation

Throughout the U.S. estimates of postharvest losses for fresh fruits are in the range of 30% and for vegetables approximately 32% when including culling points within the system because of overripening and the development of physiological disorders, handling damage, visible decay, or other causes as well as fresh waste by consumers. Such losses can be significantly reduced by proper and efficient handling of the fruit or vegetables on their journey from farm to market. Major benefits of reduced postharvest losses among others include; lower agricultural inputs, lower production and trading costs, increased incomes, as well as improved food safety. While researchers for decades have focused on increasing productivity and yields, little attention has been given to technologies that preserve the quality of the produce thus increasing incomes without additional agricultural inputs. Georgia, with its warm climate has a lot of potential to strengthen its presence in the fresh produce industry but often low-quality products are a barrier for many farmers to capture a market share. Despite the benefits of improved postharvest handling practices for fresh produce, UGA has not had an Extension program dedicated to postharvest for several years. Thus, there is a need to establish a well-rounded Extension and research program that would benefit the Georgia fruit and vegetable producers.

Response

Since his hiring at the University of Georgia, Dr. Deltsidis has been working towards developing and adapting harvest, handling and storage technologies to improve fresh produce quality, increase consumption of such products and reduce food waste. The ultimate goal of his program is to improve the understanding of the biology of fruit quality and to further the adoption of harvest and storage technologies that could benefit local industries. For this reason, the Postharvest Physiology laboratory, located in Tifton, GA has been collaborating with Extension specialists, Extension agents and other scientists as well as interested private parties. The laboratory has undergone major renovation, with new equipment added as well as new personnel. In the past twelve months, a number of projects with targeted experiments has been set up in order to respond to the needs of the local produce industries. The basic achievements for this past year were to ensure that the laboratory has all the needed tools to measure produce quality at harvest and postharvest such as firmness, soluble solids, pH and titratable acidity, as well as quality indicator compounds such as color, content of phenolics and sugars. A number of local industries have already collaborated with Dr. Deltsidis’ program in order to tackle issues that are reducing the postharvest quality of their products. Some of them include preharvest applications that could improve the postharvest quality, while others deal with postharvest treatments that can extend the shelf life of fresh produce. The ultimate goal is to continue offering assistance to local industries in the advancement of existing postharvest systems, to improve their efficiencies and to reduce overall postharvest losses. The outreach component of the lab has been active in preparing dissemination materials such as presentations, blog posts as well as participation in regional and national workshops, conference presentations while producing Extension publications.

Impact

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, which put a halt in the development of an in-person, hands-on Extension program, Dr. Deltsidis has maintained a presence (either in person or online) to local events, online webinars and national training courses, by educating produce professionals about the basic factors that affect produce quality and ways to avoid the deterioration of their products. After discussions with local packing house owners and visits to their facilities, we estimate that a 10-20% reduction in the postharvest losses is attainable with simple low-cost interventions within the first year. This will be translated in a subsequent increase of their income and will reduce the pressure for increased yields that they face in order to remain profitable.

State Issue

Plant Production

Details

• Year: 2020
• Geographic Scope: State
• County: Tift
• Location: Coastal Plain Station, Tifton
• Program Areas:
  • Agriculture & Natural Resources