Controlled Atmosphere Storage Clinic on Aug. 3, 2016

Randy Beaudry<beaudry@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension, Department of Horticulture - July 12, 2016

Learn new information related to controlled atmosphere storage and warehousing of apples and other temperate fruit at the 2016 Controlled Atmosphere Storage Clinic.

Michigan State University’s 2016 Controlled Atmosphere Storage Clinic will be held Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Boulder Creek Golf Club, 5750 Brewer Ave NE, Belmont, MI 49306. The Controlled Atmosphere Clinic is organized by the MSU Department of Horticulture every other year to pass on new information relating to controlled atmosphere storage and warehousing of apples and other temperate fruit. The Controlled Atmosphere Clinic serves to facilitate communication between researchers, industry spokespersons, technical experts and packinghouse and storage operators. Attendees should expect to be brought up-to-date on the most recent scientific findings and related practical developments in the field of controlled atmosphere and refrigerated storage.

We are fortunate this year to feature Jennifer DeEll, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and Peter Toivonen, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, two of the nation’s leading experts on apple storage. Presentations will deal broadly with the challenges of successful fruit storage and will highlight storing Honeycrisp and other difficult-to-store apples.

In the Great Lakes region, we have begun to store Honeycrisp in controlled atmosphere storage, a practice that will likely become commonplace in the coming years. Importantly, an adequate storage strategy for Honeycrisp has been difficult to come by; sensitivities to low temperature and typical storage atmospheres have made this an extremely challenging fruit to store.

In addition, there will be presentations by experts from MSU, including Randy Beaudry and Renfu Lu, and a number of technical updates from leaders of post-harvest industries including Decco, Storage Control Systems and AgroFresh.

Additional topics include:

Use of DPA to prevent CA injury in Honeycrisp and Empire (Randy Beaudry)
Storing Honeycrisp - Harvista highlights, delayed CA, O₂ injury (Jennifer DeEll)
Storage of Western apple varieties (Peter Toivonen)
Internal browning disorders in Empire McIntosh and Gala (Jennifer DeEll)
Understanding the DA Meter (Peter Toivonen)
Structured illumination reflectance imaging for detecting defects in apples and other horticultural products (Renfu Lu)
Dynamic CA technologies - a review (Randy Beaudry)
In-field Apple Sorting System Update (Renfu Lu)

There is no charge for this clinic, but we do ask that you register online at 2016 Controlled Atmosphere Storage Clinic. For more information, contact Amy Irish-Brown at irisha@msu.edu.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).