Controlled Atmosphere Storage Without a Big Cold Room: The Plain-English Guide That Lets a Small Farm Sell When the Price Is Right, Not When the Fruit Gives Up

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Tired farmer beside spoiled durians and mangosteens on the left, and a smiling farmer beside neat stackable bins of fresh fruit on the right at sunset

A few years ago, Michael King bought six storage bins for Twin Springs Fruit Farm in Orrtanna, Pennsylvania. Six. Not a building, not a gas-tight warehouse, not a bank loan. Just six bins with special lids.

Good Fruit Grower later reported that the farm had grown that number to 110. Some of its Fuji apples came out of storage after nearly 12 months, and King called them "still pretty darn good."

You don't need a giant controlled atmosphere room to get controlled atmosphere storage. Here is the short answer: controlled atmosphere (CA) storage slows fruit down by lowering the oxygen around it. That used to need an airtight room the size of a barn. Today, a sealed pallet bin with breathing membranes in its lid, such as a Janny MT module, can do it inside a small, ordinary cool room, and the bins can travel in reefer containers. It still needs cold. It does not need a big CA room.

The Short Answer

What CA storage is: Keeping fresh produce cool while lowering oxygen and raising carbon dioxide, so it breathes, ripens and dries out more slowly.

The old way: Big airtight rooms with gas equipment. Good Fruit Grower says building one is out of reach for most small and medium apple growers.

The small-farm way: A Janny MT module. It is a 610-litre pallet bin whose lid membranes hold oxygen and carbon dioxide between 1% and 5%, inside a cold room you may already have, or a small one you can build.

What it can't do: Make cold, rescue bruised or badly picked fruit, or guarantee a result. Results depend on the crop, ripeness, temperature and handling.

Stephen's own tests at Bloopy Durians: 5 to 10 extra days of shelf life for durians and up to 18 days for mangosteens. These are his own field tests, not published studies.

I'm Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com. My farm, Bloopy Durians in Bentong, Malaysia, is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. Bloopy Durians holds the rights to distribute and sell Janny MT modules across South East Asia and Asia, and I use them on my own durians. So I'll tell you what they do well, and where they fall short.

Diagram comparing a big controlled atmosphere room with small Janny MT modules inside an ordinary cold room — Two ways to get controlled atmosphere storage: build an airtight room, or seal the atmosphere inside each bin.

Why Your Fruit Is Racing a Clock You Can't See

Your fruit is still alive after you pick it. It keeps breathing: it takes in oxygen, burns its own sugar and gives off carbon dioxide, water and heat. The faster it breathes, the faster it ripens, softens and loses weight.

Heat makes the clock run faster

Post-harvest engineers at North Carolina State University put it simply. A general rule is that the breathing rate doubles for every 10°C rise in temperature, which "effectively" cuts shelf life in half.

Water loss is money loss

The same NC State guide says most produce can't be sold once it has lost 3% to 5% of its fresh weight. It may still look fine to you. But you are paid by the kilo, and the kilos have dried away.

The losses are huge

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 13.3% of the world's food was lost between harvest and retail in 2023. For fruits and vegetables, it was 25.4%, up from 23.2% in 2015.

In Malaysia, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security's draft National Food Security Blueprint 2030, reported by CodeBlue in September 2025, puts fruit and vegetable losses at 20% to 50%. Only 14% of stakeholders use the cold storage that exists in some areas, citing high costs, limited capacity, remote locations and poor management.

I broke those losses down step by step in The Invisible Thief on Your Farm: Post-Harvest Losses in Southeast Asia.

Reality Check: Most farmers only count the fruit they throw away. The bigger losses are the weight that dries off, the grade that drops, and the glut price you accept because you can't wait.

The Glut Trap: When You Can't Wait, You Can't Bargain

Here's the other half of the problem. Everyone harvests at once.

In June 2026, the New Straits Times found Musang King selling for RM10 to RM19 a kilo at a stall in Pontian, Johor. In Bandar Utama, a trader said lower-grade Musang King had fallen to RM5 a kilo. Fruitnet reported kampung durians at RM1 to RM4 a kilo at the farm gate during the same season.

In Terengganu, the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) bought durians at RM3 a kilo to turn into pulp, Malay Mail reported on 30 June 2026. That's a rescue price, not a profit price.

It isn't only durians. In May 2014, HortiDaily reported Cameron Highlands growers producing about 300 tonnes of tomatoes a day but selling only about 200. The price fell to 20 sen a kilo, and farmers destroyed the surplus.

When your fruit can't wait, the buyer knows it. I showed how that squeezes small farms in Crop Prices Falling? How Farms Are Using Agritourism to Fill the Gap and Farm Cash Flow Problems.

Storage gives you the one thing a farmer in a glut never has: time.

Bar chart of Malaysian durian prices in the 2026 glut, from export grade down to the FAMA intervention price — 2026 durian glut prices, per kilo, as reported by the New Straits Times, Fruitnet and Malay Mail.

Controlled Atmosphere Storage in Plain English

Step 1: Cold slows the breath

Cold is the first brake. Every CA system starts with the right temperature for the crop.

Step 2: Less oxygen slows it again

Normal air is about 21% oxygen. Cut the oxygen around the fruit, and it breathes more slowly still. That is the second brake.

Step 3: More carbon dioxide and a seal

Higher carbon dioxide also slows ripening for many crops, though too much harms some, so settings are set crop by crop. A seal keeps humidity in, so the fruit holds its weight.

Step 4: Ethylene, the ripening gas, stays quiet

Many fruits make a gas called ethylene that tells them to ripen. Durian and mangosteen both do. Low oxygen can keep ethylene from building up.

A 1989 study at the Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research held durians at 5% to 7.5% oxygen. Ripening was held back and ethylene stayed low; back in normal air, the fruit ripened evenly with acceptable quality. At 2% oxygen, the fruit failed to ripen and grew heavy mould. The right low oxygen helps; too low hurts.

Field-Tested Play: Think of CA storage as two brakes, cold and low oxygen, plus a seal that keeps water in. If you only have one brake, you only get part of the benefit.

Flowchart of how controlled atmosphere storage slows fruit: cool, seal, oxygen falls, membranes balance gases, fruit breathes slower — How controlled atmosphere storage works in five plain steps.

The Old Way: Why a Controlled Atmosphere Room Is Out of Reach for Most Small Farms

CA storage is not new. Franklin Kidd and Cyril West did the research at Cambridge in England, and the first commercial "gas storage" for apples there was built in 1929, Fruit Growers News reported.

A full CA room has to be gas-tight. The whole room holds one atmosphere, so it suits one crop at a time, and you don't open it until you're ready to sell a large share of what's inside.

Good Fruit Grower put it bluntly: building a CA facility is out of reach for most small and medium-sized apple growers.

Even shared CA storage can eat your profit. In July 2026, FreshPlaza reported that Kashmir apple growers faced CA charges that had "increased considerably over the years."

Reality Check: Storage only pays when the price after storage beats the price at harvest by more than your storage costs. Before you store anything, write down three numbers: the glut price, the price you expect later, and your cost per kilo to store.

The Small-Farm Way: Put the Atmosphere in the Bin, Not the Building

Here's the idea that changed things. Instead of sealing a whole room, seal each bin.

Janny MT, a French company based in Péronne, has sold this kind of modular storage since 2009. Its website says more than 100,000 controlled atmosphere modules have been sold, with users in 35 countries and on every continent.

What the module is

Each module has two parts:

A bin: a 610-litre plastic pallet bin. Janny MT's FAQ gives its size as 100 x 120 cm on the ground and 83 cm tall.
A lid: a lid fitted with a seal and selective membranes. Red plugs close some of the membranes, so one lid can be tuned to different crops.

How it works

You cool the produce with the module open in your cold room. Then you close the lid.

The produce keeps breathing and uses up the oxygen inside the bin. The membranes let a little oxygen in and a little carbon dioxide out. Janny MT says they hold both between 1% and 5%.

No gas tanks. No machines. No gas injection. The fruit does the work, and the membrane sets the limits.

What the company says about weight, life and cost to run

Janny MT says weight loss is cut to 1.5% at most in its modules. It compares that with about 10% for apples or cherries in ordinary packaging, and up to 20% for chestnuts.

Its FAQ says modules and lids last 15 years or more, with no membranes to replace and no consumables. Stacks can reach 9 or 10 levels, depending on the product.

Reality Check: Janny MT's FAQ says the module has no cooling of its own and must be used in a cold room. "Without a big cold room" means without a big CA room. You still need cold, but it can be a small, ordinary cool room.

For the full parts list, models and accessories, read The Complete Guide to Janny MT Post-Harvest Modules. For the farmer's view of durian storage, see Stop Dumping Your Harvest at Glut Prices: The Janny MT Module.

Big CA Room vs Small Cold Room Plus Modules: A Side-by-Side Look

Option	What you need	Reported cost example	Best for	Main catch
No storage	Nothing	RM0	Selling everything on picking day	You take the glut price
Small cold room only	Insulated room + cooling	US$1,300 DIY 6x8 ft walk-in (UVM Extension); US$6,290 in materials for a mobile trailer cooler (K-State, 2019)	Short holds of a few days	Cold alone; no low-oxygen brake
Small cold room + CA modules	Cold room + sealed bins	US$517 to US$617 per bin in the US (Good Fruit Grower)	Small and mixed farms holding part of a crop	Needs a gas meter, careful cooling and a trial per crop
Full CA room	Gas-tight room + gas equipment	Too costly for most small growers (Good Fruit Grower)	Large single-crop packhouses	One atmosphere per room; big upfront cost

Prices are past examples from the US and will differ in Asia, so ask your supplier for a current quote.

The biggest difference is flexibility. Modules can hold different crops in one cold room, if their temperatures are close and one doesn't give off ethylene that harms the other. You can also open one bin without disturbing the rest.

Comparison chart of storage options for small farms: no storage, cold room only, cold room plus CA modules, full CA room — Storage options for small farms, from no storage to a full CA room.

What the Research and Real Farms Have Found

Most published results are for temperate crops. Here's what's on record.

Apples, Belgium. In a three-year trial by the Walloon Agricultural Research Centre (CRA-W), reported by Réussir in November 2018, eight apple varieties stored at 2°C lasted 120 days in open bins and 210 days in Janny MT modules. Fruit stayed firmer, and a storage rot fell by more than 50% on three sensitive varieties. The same report said several other quality measures showed no statistically proven difference.

Ontario, Canada. In 2014, Ontario's agriculture ministry (OMAFRA) tested the bins on asparagus, cherries, plums, apples and pears, then blueberries in 2015. The bins reached about 3% oxygen and 3% carbon dioxide. Dr Jennifer DeEll said: "Overall, we're finding that the bins do extend the storage life." The report noted the system suits smaller farms that sell on-farm or at farmers' markets.

Pennsylvania, USA. At Twin Springs Fruit Farm, Good Fruit Grower reported Jonagold apples kept about 50% longer in the bins than in plain cold storage. A Penn State extension educator said apples stored very well, peaches less so. Each bin held about 18 bushels of apples.

Janny MT's own figures. The company lists "up to" storage times such as cherries 25 days, asparagus 25 days and passion fruit 80 days.

Reality Check: Janny MT's research page says settings have not yet been worked out for every fruit, vegetable, flower and mushroom. For most tropical crops, there are no published module trials yet. That's why we test on our own fruit before promising anything.

Durian and Mangosteen: What the Science Says

Tropical fruit is fussier than apples: too cold brings chilling injury, too warm races it to ripe. Here is what UC Davis's Postharvest Technology Center recommends:

Fruit	Best storage temperature	Normal storage life	Chilling risk	CA note
Durian	13°C to 15°C, 90-95% humidity	3 to 5 weeks for mature unripe fruit; 7 to 14 days for ripe fruit	Damaged by 5°C for one week or 10°C for two weeks	3-5% oxygen and 5-15% CO2 extended life to 8 weeks at 14°C, vs 5 weeks in air
Mangosteen	13°C (plus or minus 1°C), 90-95% humidity	2 to 4 weeks, by cultivar and ripeness	Below 10°C for over 15 days, or 5°C for over 5 days, darkens and hardens the skin	No CA setting given

Both fruits want a cool room, not a cold one. And the durian CA result comes from research, not from modules: it shows what low oxygen can do, not what any bin will deliver.

Why Malaysian durians are harder to store

DHL's guide says Malaysian durians are typically collected after they fall, fully ripe, while Thai durians are cut at 75% to 85% maturity. A ripe fruit has far less time left, so every extra day matters.

Chart of recommended storage temperatures and storage life for durian and mangosteen, with the chilling injury danger zone marked — UC Davis storage recommendations for durian and mangosteen.

What I Found at Bloopy Durians

I'll keep this short and honest, because these are my own tests, not a published study.

As far as I know, I am the first to test the Janny MT module in Malaysia for durians. In my tests at Bloopy Durians, the module helped extend durian shelf life by 5 to 10 days. That's why I believe it suits durian export to China, where every day in transit counts.

I also ran a field test with mangosteens. They lasted up to 18 days in the module.

The module is new to Asia and works for many produce types, durian and mangosteen among them. It can help farms and traders store produce during gluts and oversupply. That matters beyond one farm: holding produce through a glut is part of how a country protects its food supply.

Reality Check: My numbers come from my fruit, my handling and my cold room. Yours depend on your crop, its maturity, your temperature and your handling. Treat my results as a reason to run a trial, not as a promise.

If you bring visitors to your farm, you can keep top fruit for farm-gate sales after the glut. See The Benefits of Selling Fresh Produce Directly to Visitors and how Malaysia put 66 farms and orchards on its official tourism menu.

How to Run Your First Trial: A Simple 6-Step Plan

Pick one crop and one problem. For example, "my mangosteens go soft before I can sell them" or "I sell durians at glut prices in July."
Get the cold right first. Hold the room steady at your crop's recommended temperature. For durian and mangosteen, that's around 13°C to 15°C.
Pick the best fruit only. Janny MT's FAQ says to store only healthy, dry produce, not fruit picked after rain.
Cool before you close. The FAQ warns that if produce isn't cooled enough, oxygen in the bin can fall to 0%. Remember the durian study: too little oxygen hurts.
Measure, don't guess. Check oxygen and CO2 with a gas analyser, often in the first days, then less often. Janny MT does not recommend running modules without one.
Compare side by side. Keep some of the same fruit in plain cold storage. Weigh both, taste both and record the days.

Field-Tested Play: Don't store everything. Store the slice of your crop that earns the biggest price jump when you hold it, such as top-grade fruit you can sell after the glut, or fruit for a buyer who pays more for steady supply.

When you open a module, don't rush it out the door. Janny MT says modules should stay open in the cold room for 12 to 48 hours first, so the fruit adjusts gently.

Six-step flowchart for a small farm's first controlled atmosphere storage trial — Six steps for your first CA storage trial.

Paperwork and Export: Questions to Ask Before You Store for Export

This is not legal advice. Rules change, and they differ by country and crop. Use these as questions for the right people.

Questions for your Department of Agriculture

Is my farm registered for the market I want? Malaysia's fresh durian deal with China, signed in June 2024, allows only registered producers approved by China's customs authority, GACC.
Do I need MyGAP certification? FreshPlaza reported in July 2026 that farms exporting durians to China must hold it, and fruit must come from approved farms and packing houses.
Which harvest method is allowed? The same report said Musang King for China must be harvested before it falls.
Which routes are approved? In July 2026, Malaysia's Department of Agriculture said it "has never authorised" fresh durian exports to China by overland routes.

Questions for your buyer or exporter

What test reports do you need? In January 2025, about 100 Thai durian containers were rejected in China for missing Basic Yellow 2 test results, Khaosod English reported. Each was worth about 5 million baht.
Do you accept fruit held in CA storage, and do you want the storage records?

Questions for your shipper

Can the modules travel in your reefer containers? Janny MT modules can be exported inside reefer containers. The bins stack and are handled like pallets.
What's the cost by air vs sea? FreshPlaza reported in May 2026 that air cargo costs to China rose about 25% to 40% on some routes.

In September 2026, The Star reported that Hernan Corp shipped two tonnes of Malaysian durians to Dalian on a 12-day voyage in a Daikin CA container, and the fruit arrived fresh. That used a CA container, not Janny MT modules, but it shows how slowing fruit down can open the slower sea route as an option to air.

Questions for your accountant and insurer

How is storage equipment treated for tax? See Agritourism and Taxes: Questions to Ask Your Accountant.
Does my policy cover stored stock lost to a power cut, and fruit in transit?

Reality Check: No storage system fixes missing paperwork. A module can give you extra days to sort out a problem. It cannot make an unregistered orchard or a missing lab report acceptable.

Exporters and distributors will find the trade side in Janny MT for Exporters and Distributors.

When CA Storage Is Not Worth It

Skip it, for now, if:

You sell everything on picking day at a price you're happy with.
You have no cold room and no plan to get one.
Your fruit is bruised, wet or picked at the wrong maturity. Storage makes bad fruit worse, not better.
The price after the glut isn't high enough to cover your costs.

If gluts keep crushing your price and storage doesn't add up, there are other ways to sell surplus. Turn it into products, as in How to Sell Preserves, Jams, and Jellies in Agritourism. Or sell what no import can copy, as in Cheap Imports Are Crushing Vegetable Growers in Malaysia.

If you're not sure where your money goes each season, start with Your Farm Is Making Money, So Why Is There Nothing Left?

Decision tree showing when controlled atmosphere storage is worth it for a small farm — A quick decision tree: is CA storage worth it for your farm?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is controlled atmosphere storage in simple words?

It is keeping fresh produce cool while lowering the oxygen and raising the carbon dioxide around it. The produce breathes more slowly, so it ripens, softens and dries out more slowly.

Can a small farm use controlled atmosphere storage without a big cold room?

Yes, with sealed modules such as Janny MT bins. Each bin holds its own atmosphere. You still need cold, but a small, ordinary cool room can do the job instead of a big gas-tight CA room.

Does a Janny MT module keep fruit cold by itself?

No. Janny MT says the module has no cooling of its own and must be used in a cold room. It controls the gases and humidity; your cold room controls the temperature.

How much longer will my fruit last?

It depends on the crop, maturity, temperature and handling. In a Belgian trial, apples lasted 210 days instead of 120. In Stephen's own field tests, durians gained 5 to 10 days and mangosteens lasted up to 18 days.

Can I store different fruits in the same cold room?

Sometimes. Janny MT says products can share a room only if their temperatures are close and ethylene won't harm one of them.

Can the modules be used for export?

Yes. Janny MT modules can be exported inside reefer containers, and the bins are stackable and handled like pallets. You still need the right paperwork, registration and test reports for the market.

Where can I buy Janny MT modules in Asia?

Bloopy Durians holds the rights to distribute and sell Janny MT modules and can supply South East Asia and Asia. WhatsApp Stephen 017-9250613 · www.bloopydurians.com

The Bottom Line

Controlled atmosphere storage used to belong to big packhouses with big loans. Now a small farm can put the atmosphere inside the bin. Start with one crop and a handful of modules, get the cold right, measure the gas, and compare with plain cold storage. If the numbers work, you won't have to sell at the bottom of every glut.

Want to test Janny MT modules on your durians, mangosteens or other produce? Send me a message.

WhatsApp Stephen 017-9250613 · www.bloopydurians.com

WhatsApp Stephen about Janny MT

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P.S. Remember Michael King? He didn't start with 110 bins. He started with six, learned what worked on his own fruit, and grew from there. Start small, and let your own results decide the next step.

Written by Stephen Loke of AgritourismSuccess.com, whose farm is featured in Bloomberg News and Asahi Shimbun. Bloopy Durians distributes Janny MT modules in South East Asia and Asia. Stephen's results are from his own field tests, not published studies. This is general information, not legal, tax, insurance or export advice.