Postharvest Specialist Archives - California Agriculture News Today

AgroFresh Solutions Opens New Innovation Center in Fresno

AgroFresh Accelerates Growth Plan with New Facility in Central California

News Release

AgroFresh Solutions, Inc.—a global leader in produce freshness solutions— has opened its Innovation Center in Fresno.

In addition to advancing its core post-harvest technologies, AgroFresh’s R&D and Technical Service & Development Center in Fresno will drive innovation in coating and packaging solutions, antimicrobial products, and furthering AgroFresh’s data-driven FreshCloud™ platform.

The Innovation Center will be led by a highly skilled team of post-harvest physiologists with a strong focus on developing solutions and servicing specialized crops such as citrus, table grapes, kiwifruit, avocado, berries, and broccoli.

“Innovation and crop diversification is central to our success, which is why we continue to invest in our innovation centers,” says Ann Beaulieu, vice president of R&D and regulatory at AgroFresh. “We strategically chose to open this office in Central California because this location enables us to expand our services to a broader range of crops while positioning our company for long-term growth.”

The newly-opened center is divided between a conventional office space and laboratories with capabilities to solve challenges, partner with customers, and break new ground across post-harvest biology, plant pathology, and analytical chemistry. The center will also accommodate growing commercial and operational teams.

Learn more about AgroFresh’s current job openings by visiting their career portal.

Can Pathogens Be Taken Up by Roots?

Research at UC Davis is looking at whether or not human pathogens, such as E-coli or Samonella could be transferred to roots and eventually into our produce.

“This is still a controversial topic, but it has to do whether the roots of the plants can uptake human pathogens if you have contaminated irrigation water. In a study done in California in our field production conditions their conclusion is that is highly unlikely to occur,” said Marita Cantwell, CE Vegetable and Postharvest Specialist at UC Davis.

Cantwell explained that the debate on the potential transmission of human pathogens is due to the many different conditions under which produce could be grown.

“The details matter. Earlier research was in protected greenhouses and more artificial conditions, so this was a very good test in real field conditions, and this is why it’s an important study,” said Cantwell.