A donkey never hits the same stone twice…

Some twenty-five years back, I made a statement that to date still reverberates in the industry: “If you put sh!t in a cold room you get cold sh!t out.”

That statement is still valid, but people do not seem to understand the full meaning of it.

You can grow the perfect product, the time between the cut from the vine, the bush or the tree, and the time it goes to the final holding cold room is hugely important, but most of the time, totally and completely disregarded.

You are creating your own problems often without knowing that you are doing it, with huge problems as a result.

Be honest, you grow a perfect or near-perfect product in the orchard and are busy for up to 8–9 months to get there.

Yet, whilst doing everything perfect with great efforts, you still get quality issues. Even after you did everything right.

Till you harvest that is. Think. How is it possible that you grow the perfect product and year after year you have quality issues?

Think again. Sit back and let your mind wander over all these so-called experts that have told you that “their process” is right.

So why do you have quality problems?

Everything is 100% at harvest, so how is that possible?

Year after year, nothing changes in the quest to pay attention to details and you keep on getting quality issues.

Why? Because nature never ever breaks her own laws. Simple.

It’s because between harvest and delivery to your client, there are plenty of pitfalls and mistakes are made, the whole time.

The sad part is that you often do not see the damage at the source, but one thing is for sure, the damage is cumulative and will show in the process one or other time.

Recently the debate on the cartons flared up, as there are huge problems in the cooling tunnels with cooling times, unequal cooling in the pallets, water-logged product and more.

Makes all sense as most cartons that are used in the industry are actually outrageous from a proper airflow and cooling point of view. But the carton industry shreds his or her shoulders even writing to me that “it is not a priority for them…”

Stop chasing quantity and swing your mind to quality, over the full line.

What is the purpose of chasing export carton numbers and not getting the financial results on the farm?

How on earth can that be addressed and avoided?

Who is going to help you?

Talk to people that understand the process and will help you along the process to get it right first time every time. Force big role players that you work with to invite the right people at the table that also look at the process of preserving your quality after harvest.

Preserving quality after harvest does not come by chance.

And remember if you do hit the stone twice and more, you probably are unfortunately a … and this you can fill in for yourself.

Tried. Tested. Proven. Simple.