PHILADELPHIA, PA - Happy Birthday, SmartFresh™! The AgroFresh solution is turning 20, celebrating two decades of impact on the industry as it has served as an ethylene post-harvest management tool for fruits, vegetables, and florals.
"AgroFresh prides itself on working with the farmer, the grower, and the packer to really understand what the needs and challenges are, and therefore opportunities, to ultimately deliver for the consumer a better experience," said Duncan Aust, Chief Technology Officer. "We enjoy working very closely with the scientists that we have on our team, the scientists within some of the larger grower-packer operations, and the individual farmer in the orchard."
Throughout the last 20 years, SmartFresh has helped to deliver the freshest possible produce to buyers and consumers, a release stated. Used for operations of all sizes around the world, the solution optimizes grower resources while offering more resiliency and sustainability, resulting in better ROI for growers, packers, and retailers.
Thanks to cooperation with researchers, universities, customers, and investments from strategic partners, AgroFresh has garnered extensive knowledge about produce quality management. This has led its team to offer new product formats of the SmartFresh Quality System to fit multiple crops in the field, in storage rooms, and in transit.
The 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) growth regulator behind the SmartFresh solutions was discovered nearly 30 years ago, in 1994, at North Carolina State University by biochemist Edward Sisler, and horticulturalist Sylvia Blankenship, ushering in new possibilities for the fresh produce and floral industries.
"Never in a million years did I think that things would end up the way that they are," said Blankenship. "My goal from the time I took my job was to help the produce industry. My goal was to come up with a better-quality product that would save time and save money."
To learn more about SmartFresh's 20th anniversary, click here.
Cheers to 20 more years!
