CA STORAGE
On our property we have 53,000 bushel capacity CA storage, which stands for “Controlled Atmosphere".
The CA storage building is used to store apples during the off season. As the name suggests, this is done by controlling the atmosphere within the rooms; from everything such as the temperature, to the oxygen, humidity and carbon dioxide. While in use, each room needs to be monitored regularly, meaning there are alarms and generators in place in the event that anything should go wrong to ensure that quick and efficient measures are put into place in order to get the atmosphere within each room back to where it should be.
Apples, much like us, breathe by taking in oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. By reducing the amount of oxygen in the rooms, we are reducing the rate at which the fruit is breathing, thus slowing down the natural ripening process which in turn elongates their storage life.
COLD STORAGE
We also have a 27,000 bushel capacity cold storage on our property. Unlike the CA storage we are unable to control the atmosphere inside the cold storage. This is used mostly to store produce for a shorter amount of time.