Apple Production

Activities during the production cycle

Winter Pruning (June to August)

Work begins in the winter in the months of June and

through dry pruning that aims to form orchards, improve the architecture of plants with the aim of increasing the entry of light, eliminating poorly placed or diseased branches, always seeking renewal and the formation of new production structures.


Budding and Flowering (September and October)

In the months of September and October, the orchards sprout and flower. During the full flowering period, which lasts around 20 to 30 days, pollination occurs, which is the process of transferring pollen grains, carried out by bees and other native insects that will define the setting and shape of the fruits.

Cultural treatments (During the production cycle)

During the entire cultivation period, which begins with budding and continues until harvest, important cultural practices are carried out in the orchards, such as disease control, pest control, fertilization, bending activities, weed control, etc.

Fruit Thinning (November and December)

In the months of November and December we have fruit thinning which can be chemical and complemented with manual thinning which is the felling of part of the apples with the aim of having more space between them, improving the size of the apples and reducing the load avoiding problems of alternating production for the next cycle.

Harvest (February to May)

From February onwards we have the beginning of the harvest period. This begins with the Apple Varieties of the Gala Group and continues until May and June with the Apple Varieties of the Fuji Group.

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Processing and Storage

01

Packing House

02

Conservation Technologies

The Cooperativa Agricola Frutas de Ouro has a modern Packing House with the capacity to store and process 12,000 tons of apples.

The cold storage blocks are made up of rooms with a storage capacity of 150 to 250 tons, which keep the bins (harvest boxes) of apples stored until the time of classification.

Modern controlled atmosphere and dynamic atmosphere preservation technologies are used, which are essential to preserve the crispness, flavor, pressure, and other organoleptic characteristics of the apples. The fruits are kept cold until December and are removed from the chambers daily for processing.

03

Processing and Classification

04

Classification by quality

Processing involves the practice of grading apples, which is carried out in accordance with the standards and legislation of the Ministry of Agriculture. At this stage, the stored fruits are classified by size, color expression, and presence of small defects in the skin of the fruit. Sizes vary according to the weight of the fruit, being classified from caliber 60 to caliber 220, which corresponds to the number of fruits that are packaged in 18 kg boxes.

In the grading process, in addition to weight, apples are separated by visual quality. This separation follows the rules of the legislation established by the Ministry of Agriculture and aims to standardize the fruits according to the uniformity of color and the presence of small defects in the apples.

In this process, apples are separated and packaged into four categories: Extra, Cat1, Cat2, and Cat3, always seeking to maintain quality and stability in the various categories.

Marketing

Brands sold

According to the classified categories, the apples are packaged and sold by the Cooperative under four different brands, which are FRUTAS DE OURO, the main brand, which packages the Extra category fruits, SÃO QUINCAS, which packages the category one fruits, the PÉROLA NEGRA brand which packages the category two fruits and the MORRO AGUDO brand which packages the category three fruits.

Packaging and logistics

Apples are sold in 9kg and 18kg cardboard boxes according to their category, transported in thermal or refrigerated trucks to supply centers (CEASA), supermarket chain distribution centers or distributors specialized in FLV (FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND VEGETABLES) that serve the consumer market.

Marketing Areas

The apples from Cooperativa Frutas de Ouro serve the national market and sometimes even the foreign market depending on the commercial strategy.