MAX FACTS
growing tips, news and trivia
Stepping Up Strawberry Shelf Life
Most retailers use a first-in, first-out system to rotate produce put out on display. But Jeffrey
Brecht, a University of Florida, Gainesville, horticultural sciences professor, and his team
have found this system increases the possibility of consumer waste. Strawberry shipments with short shelf lives are kept in storage while ones with longer shelf lives are put
out for sale. The result is fruit going bad soon after consumers buy it—across the United
States, more than half of all produce is wasted. Brecht and his group have developed a
shelf life computer model that accounts for variables such as temperature at harvest,
heat exposure during shipment unloading and cooling systems in distribution
centers and stores. For the National Strawberry Sustainability Initiative,
the researchers will measure temperature variability in at least 15 Walmart
strawberry shipments from Florida and
California to different parts of the country
and use the model to determine which
shipments to put on shelves first.
(Source: thegrower.com)
Hydroponic Houseplants
Hydroponics has carved out a
$600 million portion of the
food-growing industry in the
United States and is already
the focus of many farm
operations in New Jersey.
Houseplant production using
the same water-based nutrient
systems is a smaller, less
well-developed industry in the
region so far. Dragonfly Farms
home and garden store in Hamilton is now experimenting with
houseplants that can put hydroponic
technology into the homes of local plant
lovers. The s ѽɔ