'Sleep' storage keeps bumper crop of apples fresh

Frank Witsil | Detroit Free Press

DETROIT -- A bumper crop of Michigan apples, combined with a high-tech storage process that can keep the fruit fresh longer, is expected to offer grocers worldwide plenty of the crisp fruit all year — and at a lower price.

This year's crop is so robust, some Michigan apple growers and packers said they're filling up their storerooms and they rented space to handle all the extra apples coming in.

"This is going to be — knock on wood — our biggest season ever," said Tony Kramer, the controller for BelleHarvest Sales in Belding.

BelleHarvest and other shippers and packers are relying on controlled atmosphere storage, a process some farmers describe as "putting the apples to sleep" until the fruit is ready to be sold.

The scientific storage method that growers call CA lets packers preserve the fruit for up to a year in cold, dark rooms with almost no loss of taste to the fruit, growers say. In the sealed storage room, oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, as well as temperature and humidity, are regulated to keep the apples in a kind of suspended animation.

"It slows the respiration of the fruit and preserves it in a way that we can enjoy almost as if it just came out of the orchard," said Ken Nye of the Michigan Farm Bureau. "We've refined the process so you can enjoy apples year round. You can't look at it as an old apple."

Researchers at Michigan State University perfected the process by determining the best time to pick the apple and refining the gaseous mix. They've consulted with corporations to improve CA storage machinery and helped farmers grow apples that last longer in storage — and even taste better after being in storage.

The CA process and the bumper crop this year mean Michigan apples will reach foreign markets in the offseason; and apples from the good harvest won't go bad because they can't be eaten fast enough.

When the packers are ready to sell the apples, they are taken out of storage, sorted by size, color and condition — and brought to market.

High quality, low price

Last year was one of Michigan's worst growing seasons in more than a half-century.

Spring frosts killed buds and destroyed about 90% of the state's crop. The crop yielded less than 3 million bushels.

The crop was so bad at BelleHarvest, just outside Grand Rapids and one of the largest shippers in the state, that not one apple ended up in CA storage.

But this season, Michigan is expected to harvest about 30 million bushels.

"In general, the overall volume of production has been very good," Nye said. "And thanks to favorable weather and abundant rainfall, the quality has also been very good so far this year."

Growers hope this will help make up for last year's loss. The average economic impact of apples in Michigan is between $700 million and $900 million annually, according to the Michigan Apple Committee.

Some packers estimate, the grocery store price for fresh apples could drop as much as 50 cents a pound because of the abundant harvest.

BelleHarvest recently invested about $2 million into its operation. It estimates it will produce more than 1 million bushels of apples, eight times last year's amount and about 15% more than an average year for the operation. Of that, the company anticipates about 70% of the apples will end up in the specialized CA storage.

In fact, to accommodate all the extra apples, the company plans to rent storage rooms throughout the state. As the apples come out of storage, they will be shipped throughout the Midwest, and in the U.S. as far as Wyoming, Texas and the Carolinas. The company is exporting apples to Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico and Brazil, and possibly to Europe.

Science, some magic

CA storage, initially developed about 150 years ago, has been refined in the past half-century.

"Michigan State has definitely been at the forefront of this technology," said Randy Beaudry, an MSU professor who spoke at an international conference earlier this year.

For decades, MSU professors conducted groundbreaking research on post-harvest physiology, authored significant studies and presented papers at national and international gatherings. They worked with growers to enhance an apple's color, firmness and sweetness.

MSU research even helped companies like McDonald's develop a way to put apple slices in small packets without the slices turning brown.

A lot of science goes into storing apples.

"If they are picked at the right time, you won't know a difference between the fresh and stored apples," said Abby Jacobson, who owns an orchard in Macomb County with her sister. "If you pick them too early, they'll taste green. If you pick them too late, you can't keep them from ripening."

And a little magic goes into the storage process, too.

"We are putting the apples to sleep naturally," Jacobson said. She repeated a couple of lines as if she were hypnotizing her crop: "You're going to sleep. You're going to sleep."

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Controlled atmosphere storage

What: The storage method — sometimes called CA — lets growers preserve the fruit for months with only a limited loss of quality. In this process, oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and the temperature and humidity, are regulated.

How it works: It's like putting the fruit to sleep. In a sealed room, the oxygen that the fruit takes in and gives off as carbon dioxide is reduced, slowing the ripening process. Oxygen is replaced by nitrogen gas. Temperatures are reduced and kept in the low to mid-30s. Apples can be stored for about a year, depending on the variety.

History: Benjamin Nyce made the first recorded attempts of CA storage for apples in Ohio in 1865. Researchers in England studied these techniques from the 1920s-40s. Michigan farmers began using controlled atmosphere storage in the 1950s — and the state has been a leader in research on this process.

Source: Washington Apple Commission