Founded in 1978 as the Organically Grown Cooperative, the business now known as the Organically Grown Company has evolved into the Pacific Northwest’s largest organic produce wholesaler. Still employee-and-grower-owned to this day, what began as “a way for the hippies and dreamers and organic farmers to share information, educate each other, and buy supplies,” has become a powerhouse of the industry, boasting facilities in Eugene, Seattle, Portland, and Spokane.
All the while, they've stayed committed to their goal of long-term agricultural and environmental sustainability – powering their delivery vehicles with biodiesel, recycling more than 93% of their waste, and donating 588 tons of produce to area food banks in 2015 alone. The kind of steady growth Organically Grown has experienced carries with it new problems every step of the way, and in turn, requires new solutions to those problems. According to Anthony Seran, Organically Grown's Project Manager, his newest solution is the Jet-Ready Precooler from Global Cooling Inc.
Finding the best way to quickly, efficiently, and economically cool produce from the field has long been among the top problems for growers, packers, and wholesalers. In fact, according to Seran, Organically Grown had been working on the idea of upgrading their precooling technology themselves for some time. “We thought we could refine and build our own fan system,” says Seran, “but we abandoned that plan when we discovered the Jet Precooler. And now that we have our first Jet, I can say that it works exactly as advertised. It brings 14 pallets of product down to the right temperature in 1½ to 2 hours. Our homemade cooler used to take 5 or more hours to do that. There is just no comparison.”
Postharvest handling and precooling have always been important to companies like Organically Grown, whose produce is not treated with the array of chemicals that are often used by non-organic companies. “Prompt and proper precooling is an ‘organic shelf life preservative’”.
“Postharvest handling is what it's all about. The faster you can get [the product] to temperature, the better for everybody and the less energy you use” says Seran. “The Jet Precooler easily cut two-thirds off our cooling time, preserving quality and shelf-life, and increasing our daily precooling capacity all at the same time.”
In reference to the Jet-Ready Precooler, Seran quotes Albert Einstein – “perfection is when nothing can be added or removed. And that describes our Jet Precooler. It has literally everything you need; nothing more, nothing less.” He continued, “I don't need bells and whistles, I need something that does its job. [The Jet] is perfect.” This is high praise coming from a man who's worn nearly every hat within the company.
Seran, speaking more on the general design of the Jet-Ready Precooler, says, “What I also like is the pure, user-friendliness of it. It took me one minute to figure out how to fire it up and run it, and another minute to train my staff. It has the shortest learning curve of any piece of equipment that I've experienced.”
“Our Jet Precoolers are made in America,” explained Global’s Vice President James J. Still, “right here in Philadelphia at the Philly Navy Yard business park. All of our components are the best that money can buy, and our portables are amazingly powerful; we consistently outperform bunker wall systems and farm-built box fans time after time.
Global Cooling Inc. manufactures the Jet-Ready, Jet-Heavy Duty, and Jet-Ripe portable precoolers, as well as the Rapid-Cool 2- and 3-tier high pallet racked precoolers.
Contact:
Jim Still
Global Cooling Inc.
Tel: 1-844-858-4621