This summer, postharvest technology provider Fresh Inset Solutions launched an e-commerce platform giving apple growers, packinghouses, and cold storage operations direct access to its full MaTri 1-MCP product portfolio.
The company also recently unveiled its full MaTri System, a modular postharvest management suite. The line includes MaTri Powder and a generator for large-scale centralized storage, effervescent MaTri tablets for smaller satellite rooms and shipping containers, and MaTri SURE test strips that allow growers to visually verify exposure in real time.
The suite also features the MaTri DoseRight Calculator, a decision-support tool that determines exact product requirements based on user-entered room dimensions. The calculator enables growers to translate space parameters into direct online orders, reducing dosing errors and minimizing downtime.
The suite includes the DoseRight Calculator, an integrated decision-support tool that determines exact product requirements based on user-entered cold storage room dimensions. It allows growers to instantly translate space parameters into direct online orders, reducing dosing errors and minimizing downtime.
Keith Culver, vice president of MaTri sales for the U.S. and Canada with Fresh Inset, says apple and pear growers face compounding challenges from labor, regulations, weather and more. And as costs continue to increase, growers are in a much more difficult position of trying to earn a profit and pay their bills.
The e-commerce site and MaTri system streamline the purchasing and application process. Culver points to the DoseRight calculator, which enables growers to both order product and fine-tune application rates.
“They can fill in the size of the room or the volume of the room, how much fruit it will hold and then they can decide what rate to put by using a slider or selecting the standard tool,” he says. “The calculator automatically tells them exactly what to do in that room based on how they want it set up.
Growers can use the calculator to configure proper 1-MCP applications not only by variety, but also by volume, harvest date, and any preharvest plant growth regulators applied.
“Not every room of apples is the same, therefore our dose rate calculator enables them to be able to, using a slider function, will move the rate up or down based on the specific nature of the room they’re going to be treating,” he says.
This includes opting for a full rate when necessary or a standard rate to help growers get a better handle on the end cost of treating a cold storage room.
“It also automatically adjusts the price they’re going to pay for that room, which is really important because this is the way we make it extremely economical for our customers,” he says. “They’re not forced into a one-size-fits-all function where we only talk about one rate, which is full rate, which might be the most advantageous for us because we’re selling more product, but it might not be as cost-effective for that particular room.”
Culver adds that growers are keenly aware of how temperature and CO2 levels vary by variety and impact 1-MCP needs, noting that application strategies depend heavily on whether fruit is headed to immediate distribution or extended cold storage.
“For short-term marketing situations, that decision could be different than for long-term storage conditions where they’re trying to take advantage of a longer-term marketing plan and/or maybe better prices at some point in the season,” he says.
