This video demonstrates how fresh figs are harvested and packed in a packinghouse. This video was taken at J. Marchini Farms in Le Grand, California, and demonstrates how fresh figs are hand harvested into buckets in the field. The harvested product is then transported to the packinghouse to be graded, sorted and packed. Please check out https://www.theproducenerd.com/2018/0... for more information related to fresh fig growing, harvesting and packing. Video Chapters 0:00 Overview 0:10 Hand harvesting of figs and how the harvesters determine which figs to harvest 0:58 Figs arrive at the packinghouse and go through a quality control step 1:17 Box formation 1:27 Fig Packing house overview 1:37 Figs are packed into three different options: clamshell (primary market), green cartons (secondary market) or into a cull pile 2:28 Quality control for weight and fruit quality 2:53 Labeling and palletizing the packed boxes 3:10 Forced air cooling until further shipment.#agriculture
This week on The Produce Nerd, we're going to take you behind the scenes of a fresh fig harvest and
packing operation. Fresh figs are hand harvested, although all of the figs on a tree do not ripen
at the same time, so the harvesters need to go through the tree thoroughly to make sure and
harvest the figs that are ripe. Figs are a difficult crop because they do not continue ripening after
harvest, so they have to be harvested at the ripeness stage. However, they are highly sensitive
fruit and have a short shelf life, so they need to be handled properly. This video was taken at the
beginning of the harvesting season, so some of the ripe figs could be found on the outside of the tree
while others were located inside of the tree. Once the bins arrive at the packinghouse, a random
assortment is chosen to go through an initial quality control step. Here, the worker is checking
the quality of the harvested product and is counting percentages for off-size product and
for any defects observed. The figs then enter the packinghouse where they are sorted and packed.
The boxes are formed on site and available for each packer,
who each has their own individual setup to sort and pack figs.
The packers take the harvested product and sort it into three categories.
The primary market product is packed into clamshells and then into boxes,
while the secondary market product is packed into green cartons and boxes,
and the full product is placed into dark bins.
There is an additional quality control step that is performed by a worker that randomly
selects packed clamshells to make sure they meet the weight and quality criteria specified by the
customer. There are then other workers that go through and collect the packed boxes,
label them, and palletize them.
Once the pallets have been completed, they are secured and transported to the cooler,
where they are forced air-cooled until further shipment.
Thank you for watching. Please subscribe to TheProduceNerd.com,
where a new blog will be posted every Tuesday.
