Pre-cooling method by crop
Berries, stone fruit: forced-air (1–4 h). Leafy greens: vacuum (20–30 min). Carrots, sweetcorn: hydrocooling (10–30 min). Match method to product moisture tolerance and packaging.
Controlled-atmosphere (CA) storage
Apples, pears, kiwi: 1–3% O₂, 1–3% CO₂, 0–1 °C. Extends storage life 4–8 months vs regular air. Requires sealed rooms (≥3 minute Δp decay), N₂ generator, CO₂ scrubber.
Off-grid solar cold rooms
For farm-gate pre-cooling in emerging markets: 1–5 t capacity, solar PV + Li-ion or thermal storage, low-charge R290 or NH₃. Payback 3–5 years when displacing diesel or eliminating harvest loss.
Export chain integration
Design pre-cool, storage and reefer container loading as one flow. Delay in loading > 2 h at ambient wipes out 30–40% of pre-cool benefit. Loading dock canopies and reefer plug-in yards are cheap insurance.
Frequently asked
How much loss reduction does pre-cooling really deliver?
For berries and stone fruit: 12–22 percentage points fewer downgrades at retail. Payback often <2 years for exporters.
Is CA worth it for smaller volumes?
Break-even is typically 500–800 t/year per commodity. Below that, cold storage + air-freight (or shorter storage cycles) beats CA capex.
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Send one RFQ, receive shortlisted quotes from vetted refrigeration EPCs.
- Industry
- agriculture
- Temperature
- 0/+4 °C with humidity control
- Budget
- €1M – €15M
- Timeline
- 8–14 months
- Equipment
- Pre-cooling tunnels, controlled-atmosphere rooms, ripening chambers
Opens the RFQ builder with fields prefilled from this guide — editable before submission.