Hazel Technologies works with Northeast apple grower to improve postharvest

Chicago-based agtech company Hazel Technologies Inc. has partnered with Ricker Hill Orchards, an eighth-generation, family-owned apple farm based in Turner, Maine, adding Hazel 100 bin packets across the entire operation to boost postharvest efficiency and extend shelf life, according to a news release.

“The Hazel team is proud to work with an operation as historic and innovative as Ricker Hill and so happy to see how much our product can simplify a complex operation so quickly,” Joe Parker, Hazel Technologies account executive, said in the release.  

Ricker Hill Orchards owner Harry Ricker selected Hazel Technologies in part driven by his dedication apple growing excellence and desire to support industry innovation and agriculture research, according to the release.

Related news: Another big Michigan apple crop on tap

“I was first interested in Hazel Technologies because my now 3-year-old granddaughter is also named Hazel — there aren’t a lot of Hazels out there,” Ricker said in the release. “Then, after actually using the product for a couple seasons, I’ve found Hazel to be failproof — as far as I haven’t had any problems with bins being soft because they weren’t treated. It’s just easy.”

As a proud pilot-user of 1-MCP fumigation technology, Ricker and his team have, in the past, responded positively to the results of 1-MCP on their fruit but have faced challenges while deploying the fumigation method itself, according to the release. The expansive geography of its 20 orchards across three counties and eight towns makes postharvest logistics and timing at Ricker Hill Orchards a challenge.

When sorting, treating and storing apple varieties from so many locations, it can take up to a week to fill the orchard’s nine storage rooms, the release said. To protect early bins from ethylene damage throughout the week, each room required numerous rounds of fumigation, sealing, waiting and cleanup. The process of using traditional 1-MCP every year was extremely cumbersome and time-consuming, according to the release.

The game-changer arrived when Ricker discovered the Hazel 100 bin packet, the release said. By dropping a slow-release 1-MCP packet into each bin as it came off the truck, the need for repetitively sealing and resealing rooms, along with the ensuing cleanup, became a thing of the past, according to the release.  

After implementing Hazel across all its farms, Ricker Hill Orchards reported substantial improvement in postharvest operational efficiency, crop quality and consistency, and the new method has also invigorated the team by setting a less hectic pace, the release said.