UC Davis plans annual postharvest short course and tour
The 37th Postharvest Technology Horticultural Short Course will be held June 15-26 by the University of California, Davis Postharvest Technology Center. The first week of the course is June 15-19 followed by an optional field tour June 22-26. Attendance at the first week of lectures and demonstrations is a prerequisite for the field tour.
Topics for the week of lecture and demonstration include:
- An overview of the postharvest biology of horticultural crops
- Maturity and maturity indices, measuring quality
- Safety factors
- Harvesting systems, preparation for market, packinghouse facilities and equipment, packaging, containers and unitization
- Cooling prior to shipment: methods, evaluation of efficiency
- Storage: methods, facilities, equipment, management of environmental conditions including controlled atmospheres
- Ethylene: treatments, exclusion and removal
- Transport: systems, loading patterns, environmental control, use of modified atmospheres
- Sanitation and other procedures related to decay and insect control; food safety assurance
- Standardization and inspection, quality evaluation and control
- Energy use in postharvest technology procedures
- Harvesting and postharvest handling systems for various commodity groups
- Marketing fresh produce: socioeconomic and environmental considerations
- An overview of current postharvest research at the University of California
The tour will cover a wide variety of postharvest operations. The tour’s first stop is in Sacramento, then the bus travels as far south as Bakersfield, continues west towards the Salinas and Monterey area, and then the final stops are in the San Francisco/Oakland area. The bus then returns participants to the UC Davis campus.
Enrollments are requested no later than May 15, 2015. Reservations are accepted made on a first-paid, first-served basis. A waiting list will be available for additional registrants.
Contact Penny Stockdale for enrollment information.
