'Tip of the Iceberg Podcast' — Andy Tudor on robot palletizers, apple coatings
In this second episode of our ZAG Technologies series, produce veteran Andy Tudor shares how tech doesn't necessarily involve computers, but it can. Listen to how it's changed the industry and will continue to do so.
Tudor and the co-hosts explore the simplicity of agtech in solving problems, that it isn’t always actual “computer tech” but any kind of new technology that solves a problem. Listen on your favorite platform for podcasts here or by hitting the purple and white play button below.
Tudor, president of AT Ag Consulting, Yakima, Wash., has worked in produce sales and marketing for more than 30 years, with an emphasis on organics. Before starting his own consulting firm, he was vice president of business development at Rainier Fruit Co.
He recalled how fruit was sorted and graded by human hands and decision, but beginning in the 1990s, tech started taking over some of that work in bits and pieces, ramping up in the 2000s and becoming what it is today — where a piece of fruit can be photographed 60 times, inside and out, to determine its characteristics and where it needs to go next.
The entry-level job at warehouses used to be stacking pallets and boxes.
"Nobody wants to make a career out of stacking boxes," Tudor said. "That’s back-breaking work. Now people can come in at a higher level into the warehouse environment, versus having to start having to start stacking boxes."
And then there are newer apple coatings, conventionally made from carnauba wax sourced from tree leaves in Brazil and Indonesia. His client, Yumbrella, for example, is certified organic, vegan, non-allergenic, gluten-free, slows ripening, affordable to make and environmentally friendly — requiring 4.2 times less land in production to coat a ton of apples than traditional coatings require, he said.
To learn more, listen to Season 4, Episode 3.
Related: ‘Tip of the Iceberg Podcast’ — Matt King of Simplified Trade on executing produce promotions
