Behind every Stemilt Grower is the support of the Washington fruit industries only privately owned Research and Development department. There, researchers continually test new products and methods for improving and monitoring fruit quality, extending fruit shelf-life, and maximizing the effectiveness of natural biological systems. In addition, the program operates a weather monitoring system that provides Stemilt Growers and Field Staff with up-to-the-minute weather information for improved applications in pest control, irrigation and harvest.
These are some of the Research and Development accomplishments at Stemilt:
- Low oxygen storage protocol development for apple storage for organics
- Developed initial testing for brix (sugar level) detection technology for apples
- Developed near infra red technology computer models for non destructive testing for internal breakdown in apples
- Fruit physiology studies on apple/pear/cherry/soft fruit quality issues
- Modified atmosphere packaging for preserving quality of fruit through the air makeup in cartons.
- Firmtech development for measuring cherry firmness for consumer quality
- Sanitation technology for plants and food safety
- 19 research controlled atmosphere rooms for testing small lots of fruit in developing storage protocols
- Apple/pear storage and handling testing
- Fruit maturity predication models
- Flavor testing for the new patent-pending Applesweet flavored apple program
- Technical resource for calibration and testing of machinery