Reducing postharvest food losses in organic spinach with the implementation of high tunnel production systems

Abstract

Fresh produce constitutes 44% by weight of the global food losses and waste. Postharvest losses of fresh produce are closely related to the preharvest field conditions during growth. In the Central US, many small acreage vegetable growers are utilizing high tunnels, which have been successful in increasing the yield of several crops. Little is known about the effect of this production system on the postharvest losses. This study tested the hypothesis that the production system will affect the postharvest losses of organic spinach (Spinacia oleracea, "Corvair") when stored at 3 or 13 °C. Comparative open field and high tunnel trials were conducted from 2015 to 2017. Postharvest losses were evaluated with regard to the spinach quality characteristics and shelf life. During storage at 3 °C, there were no major quality differences between the spinach grown in the two production systems. During storage at 13 °C, in both years, spinach grown in the high tunnels had 1.2 to 2.3% higher water content than spinach grown in the open field. In the second year, high tunnel spinach stored at 13 °C had a lower respiration rate (P < 0.05) and a slower rate of yellowing as indicated by higher chlorophyll content (P < 0.001), significantly lower lightness values, and significantly higher hue values than open field spinach. The high tunnel spinach demonstrated longer shelf life in year 1 and higher quality towards the end of storage in year two when compared to open field spinach when stored at 13 °C. This is the first study to examine the effect of the high tunnel production system on the postharvest quality and losses of spinach. Our results indicate that high tunnels can reduce the postharvest food losses of spinach when stored at 13 °C, due to increased water content and decreased senescence rate.

Creating Food Value Chain Transformations through Regional Food Hubs: A Review Article

“…At the same time, environmental services are provided to support the sustainability of the food system. These services are consistent with FVCs, which support the reduction in pollution and food loss during production [112].…”

“…Process Based on Value-Added Sources -Determining the optimum location of RFHs [47,97] Planning -Determining the uniqueness of the community to improve the value proposition [47,97] Infrastructure -Social involvement -Warehouse to conduct basic processing of food (washing, weighing, sorting, grading, labelling, packing, packaging, and storage) -Human resources management [86,97,102,106,107,110] -Operation services -Producer services [97,108,109] Services -Marketing services [18] -Community and environmental services [106,[110][111][112]115] Community Support -Strategy to enhance farmers' willingness to join RFHs through emphasizing profit margins, information, transparency, and social engagement [19,29,50,102,106,113] 3.7. Research Gap of Regional Food Hubs Based on Food Value Chain Perspectsive…”

Economic trade-offs: analysis of hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) cover crop use in organic tomato (Solanum lycopersicumL.) high tunnel systems across multiple regions

“…High-tunnel (HT) systems have been shown to maximize yields, improve fruit quality and thus reduce pre-and post-harvest food losses, increase profitability by lengthening the growing season of profitable cash crops, and enhance overall economic stability (Waterer, 2003;Zhao and Carey, 2009;Knewtson et al, 2010;O'Connell et al, 2012;Ward and Bomford, 2013;Batziakas et al, 2019Batziakas et al, , 2020aBatziakas et al, , 2020bBruce et al, 2019). HTs are unheated, semi-permanent structures covered with polyethylene film, and are used to protect plants grown directly in the soil from extreme weather events, and to capture heat and extend the production season.…”

Life Cycle Assessment of Spinach Produced in Central and Southern Italy

“…It is a rich source of many health-promoting compounds such as minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals, bioactive compounds, and fibre [12]. Due to the high abundance of phenolic compounds such as patulein, spinacetin, glucuronides, and flavonoids, it is considered to have a comparatively high antioxidant capacity among vegetables [13][14][15]. The concept of consuming foods with functional properties to prevent chronic diseases has gained a lot of interest [16].…”

“…According to FAOSTAT [9], Italy produced 99,520 tonnes of spinach in 2019, making it the current second-largest producer in Europe. Spinach can be cultivated under different cultivation systems, mainly in open fields or under protected systems such as greenhouses or high tunnels [15,20]. Although it is essential to increase spinach production, there is also the need to consider possible environmental burdens associated with the cultivation of horticultural crops due to inputs required for production [21].…”