Tru-Cape has paid respects to industry legend Henk Griessel for his more than 25 years of commitment to raising the quality bar in commercial fruit production.
Griessel was bestowed with the Daan Strydom Research and Technical prize during a gala event hosted by the South African fruit-industry body, Hortgro. He was praised for his dedication to the deciduous fruit industry in the field of post-harvest quality pome fruit.
True industry servant
Hortgro quality assurance manager Wiehann Steyn described Griessel as a “true industry servant”. According to him, Griessel worked tirelessly and selflessly over many years and provided direction and key technical and strategic input to various industry workgroups and advisory committees that determine research needs and priorities.
He also assisted with the evaluation of the outcomes and results of research projects.
“Griessel’s expertise includes technical requirements of exporting deciduous fruit; post-harvest storage and handling of fruit; deciduous fruit production; quality systems; managing intellectual property rights of plant material; propagation of woody perennials and greenhouse production,” Steyn said.
“Over the years, his career made several pit stops and journeyed into academics where he lectured in horticulture for four years at Stellenbosch University before he joined Unifruco and later Kromco/Tru-Cape as Quality Control Manager.
“The list of his academic publications is too long to mention here. But many colleagues can attest to Griessel’s ardent contribution and devotion to quality fruit produced for the deciduous fruit industry. Griessel has been an advisor to the Hortgro Science post-harvest programme since 2004,” stated Hortgro.
Valued contribution
Tru-Cape’s managing director Roelf Pienaar said that Tru-Cape has always been proud of Griessel’s contribution. “In his role as quality manager, he has to have daily and often difficult conversations with growers, packers, marketers and end-user customers – with each one having a slightly different focus.
“He is the ultimate diplomatic role in the Tru-Cape value chain and it is because of his long-standing history and expertise in the industry, and knowledge of pre-and-post-harvest treatments, that Henk is asked for input at every level. Growers want to know what to plant and when and which pre-harvest treatments are recommended.”
According to Pienaar, packers want to know about the latest in packaging materials and how to move away from single-use plastics, and technicians responsible for prolonging the shelf-life of the fruit want their input on post-harvest treatment, storage temperatures and controlling atmosphere percentages.
Keeping up with everyone’s demands
Marketers want to reduce the number and value of quality claims and the end consumer wants him to answer queries about apple trees in their own gardens or to explain why their apples go brown when cut.
“Henk, along with a quality team that reports to him, manages all this with grace and efficiency. And, despite significant health concerns, Henk continues to also develop the industry beyond his job description. Together with Buks Nel, he has authored three industry books.
“He was instrumental in developing the Tru-Cape Heritage Orchard and its popular open day. Together with Nel and Hortgro, he also led the effort to have South Africa’s oldest recorded apple tree, The Wijnappel, returned to South African soil,” he said.
Pienaar added that when Griessel was running fit he encouraged Tru-Cape to support trail runs and for many years, was key in organising the Tru-Cape inter-packhouse challenge race which, before Covid, attracted 5 000 entrants.
“This award from Hortgro and the 1662 Award from Hortgro which he received in 2021 make his already proud and grateful Tru-Cape team even more so,” Pienaar said
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