Begin planning now as to how you will reduce bruising and enforce spot picking standards. Design a quality control program that includes a job description for a quality checker, training of pickers, tractor drivers and quality checkers and critical control points for minimizing bruising. Tagging bins and recording information needs to be a part of the quality control program. All growers should also begin the formation of a paper trail for each lot of fruit. Regular communication with your marketer, storage operator and packer is important.
Communication is facilitated by a long term relationship with one or two operations.
Growers who jump from handler to handler seldom develop the communication and rapport necessary to share information and make joint decisions concerning the marketing of a particular lot of apples. The organization marketing your apples is the best source of information on the demands of a particular marketplace. 1581 Rte Rt. North, Newark, NY 14513.