The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis.
I recently toured several supermarkets to see how the stored potato crop was looking in retail displays. The first thing I noticed was the organic potato sprouts, ranging from peepers in russets to inch-long sprouts in some fingerling potatoes.
That’s not an indictment of the organic industry.
It’s just a fact that it is difficult to store organic potatoes as long as conventional potatoes. The organic toolbox does not include inexpensive, effective sprout control materials.
That got me thinking about . . . scientific efforts to solve post-harvest problems.
. . . .
For two . . . popular produce items — apples and potatoes — there are U.S. biotech varieties that have superior post-harvest quality traits.
. . . .
Arctic apples could help increase demand by providing fresh-cut convenience and improved appearance without the use of artificial preservatives.
Not only that, the Arctic apples can reduce storage shrink and improve packouts coming out of long-term storage.
. . . .Simplot’s Innate potatoes also have a non-browning, bruise-resistance trait.
. . . the biotech potatoes show superior quality over conventional russets, especially coming out of storage this time of year.
Read full, original post: Biotechnology can enhance post-harvest quality
