The Small Farmer’s Guide to Post-Harvest Care

Description

LOCAL FARMERS HAVE THE ADVANTAGE OF FRESHNESS

Unfortunately, that advantage can be lost by poor harvesting, packaging, and storage practices.

The purpose of this eBook is to prepare new farmers and future farmers with the basics of post harvest handling and storage. This guide focuses on small alternative farmers growing in greenhouses, warehouses, and other unconventional spaces. For these types of growers, four markets are especially important: Farmers Markets, Groceries, Restaurants, and CSAs. Notes throughout this guide will address unique issues relevant to those markets.

This guide will not address high-tech intense storage and transportation techniques. Local farmers aren’t likely to need intense “formulated” storage solution such as gas injection or ethylene-absorbing packaging. After all, local farmers are creating a distributed food system that doesn’t depend on complex transportation chains!

In this eBook learn what causes the common post-harvest problems of chilling damage, rapid decay, wilting, and bruising.

Learn about the 4 factors of shelf life and how to control them:

1. Respiration

2. Temperature & humidity

3. Handling

4. Ethylene

This guide includes general “do’s and don’ts” of harvesting and packaging as well as useful appendices to help growers identify the correct temperatures for storing different crops.

Download it now! 

You will receive your downloads via email after your order has been processed and completed.