Working with the rules that ‘ mother nature ’ will never break , Lievens had a proven solution that extends the shelf life and improves the quality of all fruit . His system , technology and methodology work , I have seen it and many farmers have too . Sadly , the lyrics of the Simon and Garfunkel song ‘ The Sound of Silence ’ ring true about a situation that affects us all , farmers , those in the supply chain and consumer – and no one takes notice of the truth in front of their very eyes . Hello darkness , my old friend I ' ve come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence
UNBREAKABLE DATED METHODOLOGY Back in the middle of the 20th Century a method of post-harvest management for fruit was developed . This methodology and the technology that arose from it worked with the laws of nature , not against them . This is unlike so-called ‘ advanced ’ modern post-harvest systems predominantly used in the fruit growing industry today . Modern
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Supplied by Jan Lievens
Jan Lievens RIP 20.02.1958 - 06.02.2023 and regular contributor to Cold Link Africa .
systems try to better the rules of nature using refrigeration and thus creating a tug of war between the fruit and its natural environment .
Lievens knew that the post-harvest processes spoken about and implemented by a handful of farmers since the middle of last century deliver vastly superior fruit quality . Lievens started preaching the message , a vision planted in his brain , and has since been helping those smart farmers who are willing to break the status quo to implement systems that have seen them produce superior quality fruit season upon season .
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Despite this there is a deafening silence in the industry and a very frosty cold shoulder that shuns a system that clearly works better than any of the ‘ man-made ’ systems on the market today . Fruit with a shelf life of 11 , 12 or even 15 weeks looking as fresh as the day they were harvested are not uncommon , they are in fact the norm . Proof , proof , and yet more proof and yet the fruit growing farmers in a blend of arrogance , ignorance and bloody mindedness refuse to listen to what is fast becoming the Sound of Silence that they know is right .
In restless dreams I walked alone Narrow streets of cobblestone ' Neath the halo of a streetlamp I turned my collar to the cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light That split the night And touched the sound of silence
KNOW THE RULES TO WIN THE GAME Lievens in his mid-sixties made a living from the few farmers using his technology in South Africa and Egypt – he still walked very much alone . The farmers he has helped are delighted , with million-rand improvements
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in yield and warm , friendly ‘ come and see this ’ excitement when he visited , to sum up what he has delivered at a fraction of the cost of conventional systems . These few farmers know that mother nature never breaks her own rules and have implemented technology that recreates these exact rules rather than creating new ones . They see better yields of better fruit attaining not simply better but the absolute best prices . They get it because they decided to look closer at the truth and – rather than be blinded by technology that the world deafens us with – go with something silent that works in harmony with nature .
Breaking down the arrogance and the ‘ we have always done it this way and will never change ’ attitude of the farmers is by far the biggest hurdle . But once the Sound of Silence is touched and a little common sense is allowed to prevail , change and vast improvement is possible in just one season .
And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people , maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never share No one dared Disturb the sound of silence
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