Things are not always what they seem to be. The assigned title of this paper would seem to limit the subject to the new Adams packinghouse. Nevertheless, it is necessary to first consider the harvesting methods selected. The main reason for improving packing methods is to reduce costs, and in the fresh fruit business today opportunities for cost reduction are principally between the tree and the packinghouse. Moreover the packer has some reasonable control over his choice of field handling methods, but inside the packinghouse his choice of methods is severely limited by the policies of buyers and the lack of any combined policy on container standardization by the fresh fruit industry in general. This is particularly true in Florida as contrasted, for example, with the California citrus industry.
Paper published with permission.
