Harvest and Conservation
2024
Villalobos, Francisco J. | Fereres Castiel, Elías | Villalobos, Francisco J. [0000-0002-0990-2970]
Harvesting is the key operation in farming that culminates the season’s efforts. It took a large fraction of labor used in agriculture until recently. Mechanical harvesting has decreased costs dramatically, contributing greatly to lower food prices. Determining the harvest time is normally a compromise between factors that increase profits (e.g., delaying it for greater biomass) and risks (e.g., lower product quality or persistent bad weather). There are yield losses during the harvest operation that must be prevented and postharvest losses related to storage conditions. Drying grain and storing it under low relative humidity (RH) minimizes fungal diseases that deteriorate the product. The water content of the seeds after harvest tends to an equilibrium value in storage that depends on the RH and air temperature. The equilibrium water content may be determined through Moisture Release Isotherms. Forage crops may be browsed by animals or cut and conserved as silage, haylage, or hay, with each process requiring drier plant materials before safe storage. Fruit harvest for the fresh market is still done by hand with special regard for quality. The harvest of fruits and vegetables for processing has been extensively mechanized, but determining its timing is based on a trade-off between quality factors and yield and marketing objectives.
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