With an additional outpost operation in Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands, about 800 miles southwest of anchorage, the Rogge Company primarily services marine vessels and hotels, reports Sales Manager, Dennis R. Kelly.

In all, the company services ocean-going ships, factory trawlers and cruise vessels, plus restaurants, hotels, and seasonal fishing camp cafeterias. Rogge Company has more than 30 employees dedicated to servicing this exclusive Alaskan market. Their busy season is January through August.

While Rogge is a specialist in supplying remote locations, one of the most unique aspects of the company is that it supplies some 25 different marine companies with fresh produce for their ships' crews, along with the products to keep produce fresh longer.

"These large factory trawlers go out for 60 days at a time with crews ranging in size from 90 to 160 individuals," Kelly explained. "They have to pack a lot of food and keeping it fresh has always been a challenge. We've developed a program to help them keep their produce fresh."

"We taught them how to use Ethylene Control filters and sachets in the marine vessel environment," said Kelly. "After our initial tests on two vessels, we opened the program up to the entire Alaska marine industry. Everyone came back to port after a 60-day run with good reports because they all saw an increase in their produce shelf life."

"Today, Ethylene Control products are part of our total marketing program. We help educate our customers about the effects of ethylene on fruits and vegetable. On a ship, all the produce goes into the same cooler box, Which makes the task of keeping them fresh even more difficult," he said.

"It makes a big impact on crew member when they are still getting fresh lettuce and tomatoes three weeks beyond the normal cut-off point," he said. "We've never had a complaint on a can of green beans, but they are certainly unhappy when they see a fresh head of lettuce, a tomato or bunch of bananas go bad."

Ships' captains and chief stewards noticed up to a three-week extension on leaf lettuce, a highly perishable item. Kelly reported that some marine vessel operators have had such high success with the program that they are now putting more than on EC filter in their coolers.

Kelly said the parent company, Charlie's Produce, has been using Ethylene Control filters in their ocean-going containers for years. Our customers appreciate the fact that we provide the necessary tools to help them get perishable gods to their market destinations in the freshest possible condition. When I tell customers I can get them extended life on their fresh perishables, they all want to hear more and get involved."

Roberto has been farming several hundred acres of land in Mexico since the early 1960s. His farm, Agricola Tarriba, is located about 80 miles south of Culiacan Valley, one of the largest and richest farming regions in Western Mexico. While Roberto Sr., directs the company's mango operation - known as Agricola Alex - with the help of his brother, Oscar Tarriba.

Ivan Tarriba is owner and president of Farmers' Best International in Nogales, Arizona. The company receives approximately 60 trucks of produce a day from his father's farm and from a few other neighboring growers. Leonardo Tarriba, one of Ivan's cousins, is the operations manager for the Nogales facility that has the capacity to store 150,000 packages, or 100 truck-loads, at one time.

They grown, pack, sell, and ship a variety of commodities - primarily cucumbers, red and green bell peppers, Roma tomatoes, zucchini, mangos, kabocha squash and grapes. Last year they handled more than 9 million packages - about 80% through the Nogales station and the balance through one at McAllen, Texas. About 65% of the total volume are produced by Tarriba operations while the other 35% are from eight other member growers.

FBI has 20 full-time permanent employees and hired about a dozen more for the seasonal busy period, which stretches from December through May.

For the past two years, Farmers Best has used Ethylene Control's filtration systems in its cold storage rooms. They started with one filtration machine and now operate three at their facility and use EC sachets in shipments of tomatoes and mangos.

The PMA Fresh Produce manual says that pitting of skin and discoloration are often problems in citrus. Exposure to ethylene may accelerate skin deterioration and increase orange's susceptibility to decay, researchers say.

For best quality, keep oranges away from ethylene-producing fruits and ripening rooms. Molding may occur if orange containers are stored directly on the floor. Power pellet reduce molds, fight rind breakdown in citrus, help the fruit retain its outer luster for weeks after wax has been applied.