- Author: Christine Huang
- Editor: Mary E. Reed
From June 23rd to June 27th, the UC Davis Postharvest Center hosted the field tour component of the 36th annual Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops Short Course. The tour, organized by Center Director Dr. Beth Mitcham, allowed participants the opportunity to visit packinghouses, cooling and storage facilities, produce distribution centers, field harvest, packing, and transportation facilities all over California, from the Sacramento area to Bakersfield, Salinas, and San Francisco.
The field tour was a great experience for all participants involved. One participant, Veronique Froelich from Murray Valley Plums, remarked that she “learned so much, was...
- Author: Diane Nelson
- Contact: Mary E. Reed
- Contact: Elizabeth Jeanne Mitcham
It takes a lot of knowledge and training to successfully handle produce from farm to plate. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a mechanism that helped produce industry employers recognize qualified applicants and helped applicants validate their postharvest qualifications?
Now there is, thanks to the UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center’s new Produce Professional Certificate Program, the first of its kind in the world. Led by a cadre of the most respected experts in postharvest technology, the certificate program covers everything from safety, new technologies, physiology, harvesting, cooling, transportation, ripening, marketing fresh produce and more.
Participants view a lettuce field-packing...
- Editor: Mary E. Reed
- Author: Lisa Kitinoja
On October 12, 2012, the first Postharvest Training and Services Center (PTSC) officially opened its doors. Located on the AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center's Regional Center for Africa Campus in Arusha, Tanzania, the Center will serve as a model for postharvest development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Physical losses of horticulture crops during postharvest range from 30 to 80 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, and problems with food quality, safety and nutritional value are well documented. Because past projects have identified appropriate postharvest technologies and recommended a variety of training, capacity building and small-scale infrastructure development, but had not integrated these recommendations...
- Author: Mary E. Reed
When the Postharvest Technology Center first announced the availability of a scholarship to the 34th Postharvest Technology Short Course in February, a fair amount of interest was anticipated. However, we certainly did not expect to receive more than 50 applications for the scholarship, which was valued at approximately $5500.
It was a painstaking process to winnow through all the applications and select just one individual that we thought would best be able to implement the stated goal of taking the information learned back to their home country and sharing and utilizing that information to make improvements in the local and regional postharvest handling systems. We selected Mekbib Hilegebrile Seife,...
