Griessel’s four decades in South African fruit have left a mark that goes well beyond technical expertise
Henk Griessel, one of the best-known figures in the South African fruit industry, has decided to step back from full-time involvement.
True to form, however, he is not disappearing completely from the fruit scene.
Griessel will remain with Tru-Cape on a contract basis, continuing to lend his expertise to an industry he has spent a lifetime building.
His path into fruit was never a straight line. Raised in Cape Town, he originally dreamed of studying marine biology, but a bursary from the Deciduous Fruit Board set him on a different course.
“When I started, I knew nothing,” he said of those early days, an admission that belies the decades of expertise that followed.
Griessel worked for industry organisations and export companies and was a lecturer in horticulture at Stellenbosch University before finally settling in the TruCape technical team, where he earned respect from all around him.
Along the way he once, during the late 1980s, worked in the Chilean industry.
Working gruelling hours, learning to speak Spanish, and absorbing lessons in competitiveness that would shape his approach for the rest of his career, he realised where the real competition was for South African growers.
“I realised the people out there are our competition,” he said. “We play a hard game every day – against New Zealand, America, and large parts of Europe. That forces you to take it seriously.”
Griessel’s role saw his technical authority – spanning postharvest handling, quality systems, propagation, and intellectual property in plant material – become a reference point for the industry.
His story is also one of quiet resilience. In recent years, he has faced serious health setbacks, including time on dialysis and a kidney transplant, an experience that reshaped his sense of time and purpose.
“Every day is there to be lived,” he says. “I can’t stand people who don’t make use of their time.”
Colleagues noted that same urgency, and gratitude, have long been part of what drives him.
Griessel remains bullish about where South African fruit is headed, despite the pressures of logistics, energy costs, and global competition.
“I think we’re close to being among the top apple-exporting industries in the world again,” he said.
It’s a fitting note for a man who has spent 40 years – and counting – helping to get it there.
Roelf Pienaar, Tru-Cape’s managing director, said Griessel’s industry knowledge is unmatched, and his fingerprints are on almost every part of how South Africans produce and export quality fruit today.
“What he leaves behind isn’t just technical expertise, it’s the people he’s trained and the standards he’s instilled across our business,” he concluded.
