The main difference between a farmer and a gardener is that a farmer sells what they grow. The step of selling what you are growing requires additional steps, precautions, and procedures. There are methods and procedures for everything from how you harvest to how you package and sell what you have grown. Much of that process hinges on the Wash Pack.
Wash Pack is a general term used to describe the place or process of taking the crops that have been harvested and preparing them for transport and sale. Most crops will require a wash to remove soil and field debris. Some crops will require a sanitizing to ensure there are no harmful germs on the surfaces of the product. And then finally there is some kind of packaging, whether in a bin or a bag, that the crop must be portioned and placed into.
Most commercial farms have a wash pack station somewhere on the property. After having visited many farms, I can tell you that no two wash packs are the same. There are varying degrees of technology and automation at each, and ultimately they all come to the same end. The level of sophistication of the equipment usually is related to the volume the wash pack is serving. Higher volume may require technologically advanced equipment. On a farm, everything is a balance between time, money, and labor.
The machine pictured on this post is an example of a more sophisticated produce washing machine that is also capable of sanitizing. It streamlines the process by being able to handle produce in bins and sanitizes through the use of spray or submerging the entire bin at once. It is fully automated and only requires a person to load and unload the machine.
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