Last season, Washington harvested 13 million boxes of organic apples and even more are expected this year, which means that packing houses will need to step up their storage capabilities to accommodate more organic fruit for a longer season. Traditionally, most organic apples have a shorter season, since it’s challenging to protect the quality of some varieties for long-term storage without fungicides and 1-MCP (1-methylcyclopropene), the ethylene inhibitor in SmartFresh. “1-MCP is the closest thing to a silver bullet we have. Without it, things are more difficult,” said Glade Brosi, who works for Storage Control Systems, a Michigan-based company that […]