Over a Hundred People Participate in the XXII Postharvest Conference

The 22nd edition of the Postharvest Conference gathered over a hundred people and 17 sponsoring companies this Thursday at the IRTA Fruitcentre to address the most pressing issues in the sector.

Neus Teixidó, head of the IRTA’s postharvest program, presented this conference, which aims to expose future challenges and work towards achieving a balance that adapts to the new environmental legislation while remaining profitable for our sector.

At IRTA, we are aware of the times we live in, and it is crucial to find effective solutions to address the concerns and questions that fruit and vegetable packing houses have to combat them. One of the current major concerns is drought and water management. For this reason, Pilar Plaza, a researcher in the Postharvest program, presented the results of the AIGUA.NET project, showing how they are working towards more sustainable water management in fruit packing houses.

Digitalization also played a significant role during the conference. Thanks to new technologies, we can develop new techniques that allow us to be more efficient and eco-sustainable. Elena Costa, a researcher in the Postharvest program, presented the postharvest potential prediction platform and the sensorized chamber of the Fruitcentre, while the account manager of Agrofresh explained how to optimize the opening of storage chambers with real-time data.

Additionally, Ingrid Aguiló, a researcher in the Postharvest program, discussed how to add value to fruits and vegetables to make production more profitable. For instance, finding new uses for lower-quality fruit or parts of the fruit that were previously unused can add value to many products that were not considered before.

Currently, with climate change, diseases and physiological disorders have emerged in crops that were previously not a concern but now significantly affect them. Joan Bonany, a researcher in the Fruit Growing program, and Jordi Cabrefiga, a researcher in the Sustainable Plant Protection program, presented the changes that have occurred in this context and the most concerning pathogens.