08/01/05 C.A.T.T.S. for organic post harvest, Pt.1

08/01/05 C.A.T.T.S. for organic post harvest, Pt.1

Currently, the conventional tree fruit industry has methyl-bromide as a post-harvest pest control. But the organic industry does not have an effective pesticide free option at their disposal. Lisa Neven and her research partners hope to change that. The research entomologist at U.S.D.A.'s Yakima Agriculture Research Lab has been working on technology designed to kill the pests without damaging fruit quality. The name of the process is Controlled Atmosphere / Temperature Treatment System, or C.A.T.T.S. for short. NEVEN: The unit looks like a big box, that you can stand about four bins in & this is our commercial unit that's we're testing at the moment. The door closes and has an airtight seal. We have heaters in there, and humidifiers. And we can run the temperature up at a specific rate that we determined is best tolerated by the fruit. And also pump in nitrogen and carbon dioxide in order to form the controlled atmospheres. The two to four hour process prevents insects ranging from coddling moth and oriental fruit moth to apple maggot to acclimate to the heat. Neven says so far, C.A.T.T.S. has proven effective on apples, pears, cherries, and stone fruits. And while it may eventually reach a mainstream demand, Neven says for the moment, the developers and financial backers of the technology are looking to fill a niche market. NEVEN: I think for the meanwhile, the organic community is going to reap the benefits. More in our next program.
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