Specification requirement

In order to maximise the financial return it is important that pickers pick fruit that has the potential to meet the final pack specification. Even if 100% of the fruit selected by the picker meets this specification, the handling of the fruit from tree to final packed unit can reduce that percentage dramatically. Therefore it is vital that selection by the picker equals as near as possible the customer specification requirement.

To meet this objective it is important to:

• Identify the potential customer, be it multiple retailer, wholesaler or processor.
• Identify the criteria within each customer specification.
• Assess the potential grade-out of the crop within an orchard against planned customer specification.
• Evaluate the potential financial return, taking into consideration the handling, storage, packing and marketing costs.
• Decide which customer the fruit is targeted at.

Fruit that has no chance of achieving a positive financial return should be removed in advance of harvest. To achieve the optimum quality and volume performance from each picker, the picker should only have two decisions to make:

1. Is it the correct size?
2. Has it got the right colour?

Progressive growers in other countries achieve this by the systematic removal of sub-standard fruits during the thinning operations at various stages of the season, starting at the fruitlet stage and continuing during the summer.