About the only way for a business to succeed in this day and age is to improve productivity by developing new technology not by breaking employees' backs. Increasing productivity by making people work harder has never worked. It is only successful in the short term.
The Costa Group which exports high quality citrus fruit to Japan has installed an infrared Brix sensor system to improve the selection of the best for export. There will be no rejection by customers because the Brix scale shows how sweet an orange is for example. There is also higher sales of blemished fruit that are very sweet according to the scale.
It seems odd that the Brix system is not shown to domestic customers. There is a down side: minerals and trace elements are not measured. However, there is no doubt that Australian consumers would like the Brix scale placed on the sales price ticket of fruit.
Like keeping out New Zealand apples, Australian growers will go to extremes to sell low quality produce. The strangle hold on the industry must be broken. Australians should have the right to buy the best, no matter where in the world it comes from. Market manipulation is supposed to be illegal.
Agriculture by Ty Buchanan
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