Read an Excerpt
Postharvest Handling
A Systems Approach
Academic Press
Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Inc.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-08-092078-8
Chapter One
Postharvest Handling: A Discipline that Connects Commercial, Social, Natural and Scientific Systems
Nigel H. Banks Scinnova Limited, Tauranga, New Zealand
I. Perceptions, needs and roles 1
II. Effects are 2
III. Creating extraordinary value 4
IV. Making a difference 6
Bibliography 6
I. Perceptions, needs and roles
Talk to any consumer and you'll soon understand the rationale for the technologies, science and systems described in this book. You'll learn that they are seeking certainty (Owen et al., 2000; Batt, 2006; van der Vorst et al., 2007):
• certainty that the visual appearance of their purchases will be matched by A rewarding sensory experience at the time of consumption;
• certainty that their produce purchases are safe, healthy and nutritious for themselves and their families;
• certainty that their purchases are supporting a sustainable and ethically sound production system.
The information they seek is largely invisible at the time the produce is bought; their purchases are made mostly on the basis of trust. This book is about the systems that measure, monitor and manage the invisible things that consumers most value.
Talk to any grower and they will stress the central importance of postharvest systems to their livelihoods and lifestyles (Bijman, 2002). Through these systems, they secure:
• information that enables them to grow and harvest intrinsically valuable crops;
• access to, and information about, consumers who will value the quality of the crop they have grown, often distant in terms of time and space from sites of production;
• ways to be able to characterize their crop that generate trust in buyers and consumers.
The technologies you will read about in this book are tools with which value is created in the grower's crop.
Talk to any fresh produce marketer about how they create value for both consumers and growers and they will tell you that they need to be able to design a high-value proposition and to realize that value in the marketplace (Hughes, 2005). They will also tell you that they are managing three interconnected opportunities and avoiding their associated risks:
• achieving "managed scarcity" by avoiding the oversupply that is disastrous for prices;
• matching differentiated product to appropriate market niches to avoid the high opportunity cost of sending superior product to low-value markets and inferior product to demanding, high-value markets;
• growing, segregating and delivering consistently superior quality to avoid the negative impact of variable quality.
This book synthesizes knowledge about the disciplines that underpin the capacity of a marketer, and the managers they work with, to address these opportunities.
The systems view of postharvest handling pioneered by the team at Georgia (Prussia et al., 1986; Prussia and Mosqueda, 2006) that lies behind this book provides insight into ways to manage risks and uncertainties in produce supply and information systems ("supply chains"), and how to turn each of them into an opportunity for developing valuable points of difference. The systems approach (Senge, 1990; Capra, 2002; Senge et al., 2005) provides rich, hierarchical and interactive perspectives of all aspects of existence. Here, focused on postharvest handling, you will augment your own tools for understanding, managing and innovating in fresh produce supply chains.
II. Effects are causes
The systems view makes it clear that the outcomes of making changes in a system are themselves influential in further evolution of that system. The classic case of this that benefits both consumers and growers, and is sought by marketers, is the "virtuous cycle" (Senge, 1990). In a virtuous cycle, the valuable consequences of a change become reinforcers of that same change (Figure 1.1). Fresh produce supply chains can enter a virtuous cycle of change when the positive effects of consumers having superior experiences are fed right back through the chain, encouraging all participants to support initiatives that will deliver superior product. This concept has been the guiding principle for ZESPRI's "Taste ZESPRI" program, aimed at consistently providing superior tasting fruit to its most discerning markets (Banks, 2003). Here, the capacity of the market to respond to good quality with a positive signal (high volume at high price) augments the capacity and willingness of growers to invest in delivering superior quality. Implementation of the Taste ZESPRI strategy has been paralleled by a 75% increase in volume of the company's kiwifruit sales in key, high-return markets since its introduction in 2001 (Jager, 2008).
Development of a virtuous cycle by such participants requires a common languagethat they all understand. At its core, this involves a number of measures of success that make it clear what each participant must do for the supply chain to excel. These measures of success include a metric for describing and segregating product on the basis of its intrinsic quality, a description of financial rewards that result from increased consumer demand, and a payment mechanism that appropriately links these two to incentivize delivery of superior product. When all of this is formalized, it becomes part of an overall marketing and quality assurance system (Carriquiry and Babcock, 2007), providing clarity on the value proposition for all participants in the supply chain – a common feature of successful produce supply chains (Figure 1.2).
Trust among participants is a key ingredient for promoting effective communication in successful supply chains (Cadilhon et al., 2007; van der Vorst et al., 2007). Reputations of individual participants are often influential to the willingness of others to collaborate with them in forming or maintaining a supply chain; their ability to support outstanding performance by others in the system is central to establishing a virtuous cycle and driving success for the system as a whole. The hurdle of initial uncertainty associated with unfamiliarity with new parties that exists in traditional modes of business can now be overcome in electronic commerce through independent ratings from users, or from widely known and trusted third parties (Fritz et al., 2007). Brands provide a complementary mode of generating trust. Acting as shorthand for perceived aspects of value for the best part of a century in fruit markets around the world (Swan, 2000); brands support rapid decision-making by consumers facing a plethora of complex information as they make fresh fruit purchases (Figure 1.3). By acting as vehicles for integrating what is valued throughout marketing and production systems, they build reputation throughout the supply chain (Florkowski, 2000).
III. Creating extraordinary value
Over the past few decades, there have been many examples of horticultural investors pursuing opportunities to capture the lucrative returns of growing and marketing exclusive, protected cultivars with highly desirable characteristics. By managing the volume of production in relation to demand, investors can capture the benefits of "managed scarcity," and avoid the collapse in prices that follows from oversupply. The success stories illustrate the new marketing space that can be created with well-designed, branded new cultivars (e.g. Pink Lady(tm) apple, Chiquita Mini™ banana, Dole Tropical Gold™ and Del Monte Gold super-sweet pineapples, Driscoll's™ strawberries, Sun-World™ peaches, ZESPRI GOLD™ kiwifruit). However, owning the protected plants in the ground is just the first of many hurdles to be overcome in securing high returns. In addition to the marketing costs of creating awareness of a new offering in international markets and discovering the strongest market for the new product, there is a diverse range of other sources of cost in establishing a successful supply chain. Over the first few years, best practice for production must be developed, characterized and implemented. Postharvest handling operations (segregation, labeling and packing, cool storage, transport) are developed and optimized, taking into account impact on consumer satisfaction, and levels of losses and returns for participants in the supply chain. Consumers have to be made aware of the offering and its special features, and a distribution network must be established.
For any new peach or banana, the design of the offering and supply chain is central, as in all business systems (Osterwalder, 2004; van der Vorst et al., 2007). At the same time, capacity for implementation is what takes the proposition from the drawing board to commercial reality. These two capabilities are emergent competencies of successful supply chains (Figure 1.4).
In the systems view of a fresh produce supply chain, consumers and markets are no longer simply targets. Growers and suppliers are no longer simply producing goods to sell. All are participants in a system for creating value. It is the integrated capacity of a supply chain for recognizing and responding to shared perceptions of value amongst its participants that enables both design and continually increasing realization of extraordinary value (Prahalad and Ramaswamy, 2004; Shewfelt, 2006).
Successful supply chains are those in which outstanding design and delivery work in a virtuous cycle to create and maintain extraordinary value. Functioning as learning systems (Wysocki et al., 2006), they generate self-sustaining patterns of flow that respond appropriately to challenges, providing ongoing high returns. Such supply chains address the opportunity to deliver rewarding eating experiences to appreciative consumers in the form of safe, healthy and nutritious produce sourced from sustainable systems. They create scope for growers to respond to market signals, producing crops that consumers will value and reward them for. They enable marketers and managers to provide frameworks for sharing valuable information and for matching product quality and quantity with market opportunities. When the supply chain is working well, all of its participants understand why they are succeeding and value their success.
IV. Making a difference
We all want to make a difference. Whether our focus is on the commercial, social, natural or scientific world, we seek to enhance the well-being of what we care about. Postharvest handling is a discipline that connects all of these systems, providing so many opportunities to change things for the better. This book is about developing understanding of how health-giving fresh produce is currently delivered into the homes of people around the world. It is also about developing insight into a future in which the opportunities for doing this more reliably, more profitably and more meaningfully have been realized, to the benefit of consumers, growers and marketers alike.
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Excerpted from Postharvest Handling Copyright © 2009 by Elsevier Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Academic Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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