Where mint saves potatoes and apples stay green

Israeli researcher Amnon Lichter held two very different apples in his hands. One had been sitting in the fridge for months, rotting, brown and sad-looking. In the other hand was a bright green fruit. Both were picked at the same time, months ago.

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What set the two apples apart was a simple Israeli technology developed at Israel’s Volcani Center –– a government-run agricultural research organization where 70 percent of Israel’s agricultural advances are born with the help of hundreds of scientists. According to Lichter, who works in postharvest at Volcani, about half of all a farmer’s resources go into postharvest treatment. This is any time after the fruits, vegetables or flowers are picked until they arrive at the customer’s home. “We are trying to minimize loss with a decreasing use of chemicals,” he tells ISRAEL21c during a press tour of the center in Beit Dagan, near Rishon LeZion. More...