It’s hard to dispute the important role fruits and vegetables play as part of a healthy diet, with a higher intake of them proven to reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease1, lower blood pressure2, and provide protection against some cancers, including of the mouth, stomach and lungs3.
Raising awareness about their importance when it comes to human nutrition, food security and health was one of the objectives of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, which designated last year the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV). The campaign also sought to drive greater consideration around the fragility of the global food system, including the need to reduce food waste, and the value that innovation and technology can bring in driving more sustainable food production4.
These are critical considerations. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), up to 50% of fruits and vegetables produced in developing countries are lost in the supply chain, between harvest and consumption5. Considering it can take up to 50 litres of water to produce an orange, food loss on this scale represents a significant waste of vital resources like soil and water, and the contribution of unnecessary emissions – including CO2 and methane – as part of the global food system6.
These issues have been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has severely impacted several logistics parameters, including the availability of, and cost associated with, refrigerated container shipping, as well as the availability of labour to work in the fields and packhouses7.
Technology to the rescue
There is an answer to the problem though – platinum group metals (PGMs).
As one of the world’s leading PGMs producers, Anglo American has explored the potential of these precious metals to help lengthen the life of fresh fruit and vegetables. In partnership with Japanese precious metals company, Furuya Metals, we have been working to drive the mass production of a range of environmentally friendly catalysts, called FT-eco catalysts.
The technology leverages the catalytic properties of PGMs, in this instance platinum, to help keep the food in your fridge, or the perishables in your supermarket or packhouse, or along the supply chain, fresher for longer.
It does this by decomposing and removing ethylene gas; a naturally produced plant hormone that accelerates the ripening process, affecting how long produce can be stored and sold after harvest. It’s a process that has typically required an environment approaching 200 degrees Celsius however the FT-eco catalyst, which embeds nanoparticles from precious metals in a special ceramic carrier, can provide an effective catalytic action at lower temperatures, ranging from 0-30 degrees Celsius.
The extended shelf life unlocked depends on the type of fruit or vegetable in question but, ultimately, means a reduction in wasted food and the opportunity to sell further away, diversifying the potential retail channels farmers can take advantage of.
One area where the technology offers significant potential is in tropical fruits production – a sector in which export volumes have displayed the fastest average annual growth rates among internationally-traded food commodities8, with one main obstacle: the highly-perishable nature of these footstuffs9.
Meet the ex-banker writing a new chapter for the Chinese yumberry
Such is the case for an obscure, yet highly-sought after fresh fruit that goes by the name of yang-mei. Grown mainly in the Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, the fruit – which also goes by the name of Chinese bayberry or ‘yumberry’ – looks like a cross between a cherry and a litchi, and is said to taste similar to a more tart mixture of pomegranate, strawberry and cranberry10.
Sounds delicious, but the yang-mei has a very limited growing season – a matter of weeks – and, as with many other soft fruits once harvested, perishes very quickly. That’s why, despite having been cultivated for more than 2,000 years11, freshly-harvested yang-mei are still difficult to find in many ordinary supermarkets – and are even more rare outside of China.
That could be set to change though, with third-generation farmer, Ms Hu Haiying (38), hoping to write a new chapter in the yumberry’s history.
Ms Hu is President of the Lin Laohan Fruit Professional Cooperative, located in Baishuiyang on the banks of the Lin River, in Eastern China’s Zhejiang province. A town well-known for its strong commercial and cultural heritage, and agricultural industrialisation, several fruit and vegetable products – including the Cuiguan pear (honey pear), peas and water bamboo – are cultivated here on a large scale. In November 2001, Baishuiyang was named ‘the hometown of the Zhejiang bayberry’ by the forestry bureau of Zhejiang Province12.
Despite growing up on the family farm, Ms Hu’s hadn’t planned to follow in their footsteps. The youngest of two children, she was the first of her family to attend university and, after graduating from the Finance Department of Zhejiang University City College in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree, she returned to Linhai City from Hangzhou and engaged in financial work. At about the same time, the farm achieved its first small harvest of bayberries, with two main customers: a former classmate of Ms Hu and her bank manager. Sales were limited by the number of trees the family owned.
That all changed when her grandfather passed away in 2004. Ms Hu’s father took over running the farm and she began to help out on a part-time basis. At the end of 2008, and following an injection of capital from Ms Hu’s uncle – a partner in the business – the family decided to scale up the operation, renting more than 200,000m2 of bayberry forest from surrounding villages.
It was at that point that, with her family’s blessing, Ms Hu quit her banking job and embarked on a future growing and selling bayberries. To show her gratitude to her uncle for his support, she registered the Lin Lao Han trademark (meaning gratitude) in his name, and shortly afterwards, the Linhai City Lin Laohan Fruit Professional Cooperative.
In the 14 years since, and after investing her own savings in the business too, Ms Hu has been able to increase the farm’s productivity significantly; standardising planting and harvesting processes, improving soil quality and health, building new warehouses for storing and packing the fruit, and introducing modern agricultural technologies, such as digitalisation, to improve crop yield and quality.
Three years ago, in 2019, she instigated the next chapter for the business, taking advantage of the convergence in online and offline retail, and expanding her sales via the Alibaba-owned Hema and Taobao online shopping channels, and WeChat messenger service. A strategically-important move, it has opened up new markets in Shanghai City, Guangdong City and Wuhan City, and almost doubled the business’ sales.
It is in these new markets in particular that Furuya’s FT-eco catalyst technology, which Ms Hu learned about from a professor at the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, plays an important role.
Each year, around 10% of Ms Hu’s bayberry crop yield was being lost during storage and delivery. The FT-eco catalyst prevents some of that loss by extending the shelf life of the fruit by 4-7 days at room temperature, and 15-30 days under refrigerated conditions (from 0-4°C). This also ensures only the freshest and highest-quality product reaches her customers.
Since learning about the technology, Ms Hu has introduced FT-eco catalysts across the entire sales lifecycle of her business; including during cold room storage, delivery to the supermarkets, and inside the packaging of bayberry gift boxes sold online, for the benefit of consumers.
Ms Hu said: “I have always believed that this is a career I can do for my whole life, and I am confident that I can do it well. Through years of agricultural entrepreneurship, I have been able to experience the fun of agriculture, as well as the responsibility. I hope to continue promoting our local family farms and farmers through the cooperative, and to lead the development of new agricultural opportunities.
“I do not regret returning home to support the business and remain steadfast in my ambition to be one of a new generation of modern farmers; giving back to my hometown, fulfilling my commitment to my home and family, and creating opportunities for others by promoting industrial development, pursuing agricultural efficiency and increasing farmers’ incomes.”
A versatile product
The FT-eco catalyst has several other potential applications.
Most prevalent has been the technology’s integration in high-end refrigerator units in China, with the objective of extending the freshness of foodstuffs, and providing an anti-odour function. And with the industrial production volume of household refrigerators in China amounting to 90 million units in 202013, it’s a feature that, over time, is likely to become more commonplace across homes worldwide.
Work is also ongoing to explore the technology’s application across other areas, including its ability to prevent mould and bacteria (which can cause infections and allergies), and its potential as an odour suppressant.
Demand architects
The partnership with Furuya Metals is characteristic of the way that Anglo American’s Market Development team works, with an approach focused on creating programmes that develop and operationalise PGM-based innovations, and form commercially viable technologies, and businesses.
“Our development team comprises a diverse group of experts drawn from several industries. Working together, we provide the commercial and technical insight needed to research, identify, and fully investigate potential new opportunities. Think of us as ‘demand architects’,” says Benny Oeyen, Executive Head of Market Development at Anglo American.
Anglo American’s diverse portfolio of interests in the PGM market development space also includes investing in the platinum catalyst technology used in electrolysis to make green hydrogen, and in fuel cells powering next-generation passenger vehicles, lorries, ships and trains. For more information about Anglo American Platinum and its market development activities visit www.angloamericanplatinum.com.
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