FORT PIERCE, Fla.—Fresh fruit and produce growers, packers and researchers will meet for Packinghouse Day for updates on phytosanitary and regulatory issues, requirements for intra-state fruit movement, fruit quality for new mandarin hybrids and honor the new John T. Lesley award recipient.
Date, time and location
Packinghouse Day will meet on-site, Thursday, Sept. 12, at the University of Florida/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center, located at 700 Experiment Station Road, in Lake Alfred, Florida. Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. with the event at 9:30 until 12 p.m. The event is offered free to producers but requires registration and lunch is free to the first 25 registrants.
Thank you to event sponsor
To open the event, JBT FoodTech will sponsor coffee and donuts. JBT FoodTech is a global machinery corporation.
Presentations
Ritenour said the planners have a great line-up of presentations planned on the following topics:
• Update on phytosanitary and regulatory issues
• Requirement for fruit movement between Florida, Georgia, and
Alabama
• Are “greasy-green and rind blotch two faces of the same coin?
• Fruit quality of new USDA mandarin hybrids
• Updates on pesticide maximum residue limits and global packaging
regulations
• A new recipient of the John T. Lesley award
The John T. Lesley Award
A highlight for Packinghouse Day 2024 will be the John T. Lesley Award of Excellence presentation. The Lesley was first presented in 1981 to John T. Lesley for “recognition of an individual for outstanding leadership and service on behalf of the Florida fresh citrus industry.”
Event Leadership
Coordinating the event is Professor of Horticulture Science and postharvest expert Mark Ritenour, who leads postharvest technology research at the UF/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center in Fort Pierce. Ritenour’s research and extension program includes a model packinghouse Postharvest Facility operation.
Ritenour will open the event with welcome messages by Michael Rogers, professor and director of the and UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center, and Peter Chaires, executive vice president of Florida Citrus Packers. Mark Kistler, director for the UF/IFAS Indian River Research and Education Center, will present an update for IRREC programs; Scott Adkins, laboratory director for the United States Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service, Horticultural Research Laboratory, will present on fresh citrus.
Pre-registration recommended
Attendees are encouraged to enroll for the event by this online link, attendees may also participate at the door on the day of the event. For more information, contact Ritenour at: ritenour@ufl.edu or 772-577-7359.
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