ST. PAUL, MN - With logistical hurdles and transportation issues continuing to cause disruptions throughout the fresh produce industry, solutions companies are stepping in to help ease pain points and provide much-needed peace of mind for suppliers. Among them is Verdant™ Technologies, wielding its HarvestHold™ solution to extend product shelf-life while driving down food waste.
“With HarvestHold, suppliers won’t stay awake at night thinking that their products are going to lose as much quality during transport as they would just sitting in storage,” explains Todd Edgington, the recently promoted Chief Science and Technology Officer. “This solution is going to help maintain produce shelf-life and deliver on quality. So, these delays that the industry is experiencing, or even shortages, will be less of a burden, as HarvestHold is a very powerful tool to help produce growers logistically manage these issues.”
But, even when these hurdles are cleared, HarvestHold will still maintain its value for fruit and vegetable growers and distributors as an accessible solution. Keeping products fresher longer minimizes the risk of spoilage during transport for the supply-side while creating a larger window of time for sales on the buy-side. Because of this, Verdant has become an attractive partner for suppliers—not to mention its solution's ease of use.
“We're not taking a shortcut approach trying to sell our clients 10 different solutions at once,” Todd says. “We're extremely focused on how to solve this food waste problem while delivering better produce to the people that need it and want it. Additionally, HarvestHold gives our partners a more flexible option that doesn’t require a large capital investment like some other solutions on the market.”
Todd, who is responsible for Verdant’s R&D trialing, tells me that the company has already seen great results with its trials. Amongst the commodities being trialed are broccoli, avocados, papayas, melons, peaches, and flowers, with more to come in the near future.
Due to HarvestHold’s success, Todd also hints at what the future of Verdant holds, including the expansion of the company’s reach as well as its solutions portfolio.
“Verdant is aggressively looking at expanding our solutions on a global basis. So, we're actively pursuing registrations all over the world for our technology,” he says. “In the future, we also want to look at other solutions beyond sheets, because we certainly have a lot of capabilities for active packaging and other shelf-life extending technologies. This is in part due to the diversity and knowledge of our associates as well as our size, which allows us to nimbly and strategically evolve.”
With the solutions space wide open for advancement, how will Verdant strengthen its position in the sector? Time and AndNowUKnow will tell, so look for our logo in your inboxes.
