ISHS Acta Horticulturae 674: III International Symposium on Applications of Modelling as an Innovative Technology in the Agri-Food Chain; MODEL-IT
ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES FOR PERISHABLE FRUIT: CHERRIES |
| Authors: | G. Yom Din, Z. Zugman, I. Shperberg, U. Ben-Zion |
| Keywords: | Fruit quality, uncertainty, optimization model, simulation, price asymmetry |
| Abstract:
Improved maintenance of perishable fruit quality can be provided by new storage technologies. The profitability of their implementation depends on: a) storage costs; b) changes in fruit post-storage quality; c) fruit prices after storage. The elements of uncertainty pertain to last two of these factors. This article presents a modeling approach to the economic evaluation of storage technologies that deals with this uncertainty, by simulating fruit post-storage quality distribution, and assuming different scenarios of price asymmetry by quality grades. This modeling approach is illustrated for short-term storage when the market price varies significantly during the sales season. It is relevant for perishable fruit and, particularly, for cherries. The economic criterion of additional profit for the packing-house due to the storage technology is formulated. The example of cherries shows that the results of the economic evaluation can be essentially different, depending on fluctuations in post-storage quality. The additional profit that can be obtained due to the storage technology drops from 3 to 53% for different levels of uncertainty in post-storage quality. The economic criterion is also sensitive to price asymmetry by quality grades: for this factor, additional profit varies from +17% (price asymmetry = 0.5) to -38% (price asymmetry = 3.3) compared to the additional profit evaluated under an assumption of unit price asymmetry. | |
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