Thanks to all of those who took the time to respond to the food storage survey several weeks back. The information you provided has been really helpful. A clear desire for additional programming in this area was expressed, and I’ll be working to develop that.
Here are the survey result highlights:
- 82% of respondents expressed interest in a formalized course on food storage topics with the overwhelming majority preferring classroom / workshop format and/or a webinar.
- 66% of respondents have plans to expand your food storage capacity in the next 24 months.
- While most respondents expressed concern about the utility costs of their storage systems, relatively few (37%) currently know those costs.
- 60% are storing in multiple zones (Temp and RH), but the overall knowledge of optimal storage conditions is relatively low (see related post on USDA Handbook 66).
- Winter markets included (% reporting sales to each)
- Wholesale (74%)
- Retail (41%)
- Farmer’s Markets (41%)
- Winter CSA (38%)
- The most common systems in use are (% reporting use):
- Walkin cooler (57%)
- Chest freezers (55%)
- Heated Winter Storage (39%)
- Root Cellar / Other Cool Storage (not refrig’d) (31%)
- CoolBot(TM) (28%) – CoolBots(TM) website
- Walkin freezer (16%)
- Other cooler refrigerated (16%)
- Other areas where respondents expressed interest in learning more included:
- basic refrigeration principles / fundamentals
- equipment overview
- construction how-to
- general post-harvest handling best practices
- insulation trade-off / bang for your insulation buck
- building in resilience / what happens when the power goes away?
- making better use of cold winter air and thermal storage
- how to best segment a walkin / zoning the storage space
- short vs. long term storage practices
- economics; what is this actually costing me now and in the future?
- When asked about their own lessons learned, respondents noted:
- Get field heat out quickly and keep it cold
- Excellent storage is key to having excellent product
- Insulate, insulate, and then insulate some more
- Measurement of temperature (and RH) is critical, don’t assume you are hitting your target conditions
- Watch out for ethylene off-gas from, e.g., apples
- Climate change is impacting harvest timing and therefore marketability and storage needs
- Plan for power loss
- Insure your product for loss while in storage
- Build bigger than what you presently need. Coolers and freezers are quickly outgrown.
- Consider “keeping it on the hoof” instead of harvest and storage.
- Pre-sell – grow only what you know you can sell – Sales and product movement are critical. Do the pre-planning.
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