Launchpad Lifts Off: Growing the Next Generation of Leaders for SA’s Deciduous Fruit Industry

Earlier this month, a new cohort of young professionals from across South Africa’s deciduous fruit industry gathered at Bernheim, outside Paarl, for the launch of the 2026 Hortgro Launchpad Programme. The initiative brings together rising talent from across the value chain — economists, researchers, producers, postharvest specialists, marketers and academics — to build leadership skills, deepen their understanding of the industry, and forge connections that will shape its future.

Text: Elise-Marie Steenkamp and Pictures: Alisa Farr

Why Launchpad Exists

Stephan Rabe, Hortgro Pome Director and custodian of the programme, explained why bringing such a diverse group together is so important to the industry’s long-term health. Uniting young people from different disciplines helps them grasp the full scope of the industry’s challenges and opportunities — and, in doing so, builds a generation of leaders equipped to carry it forward.

Rabe also shared hard-won lessons from past initiatives, which taught him that research and innovation only matter if they’re tied to economics — to the tangible return a grower sees on the ground. As Rabe put it, the fruit ultimately pays for everything, whether that’s the cost of new packing machinery, the drive to increase volume, or the branding decisions that determine where a business sits in a competitive, consolidating market.

He offered a memorable piece of advice for researchers but also to anyone hoping to understand the industry from the ground up: “Get out and meet the farmers.”

In Their Own Words: What the 2026 Cohort Hopes to Gain

After a series of industry presentations, participants had the opportunity to reflect on what drew them to Launchpad and what they hope to gain from it.

For Melissa van der Merwe, senior lecturer and researcher at Stellenbosch University’s Department of Agricultural Economics, the programme offers a chance to understand the environment in which other stakeholders operate and to build her research around the industry’s real challenges, opportunities and threats. Passionate about youth development in agriculture, she hopes to gain the tools to become a leader who can, in turn, nurture the next generation.

Jaco Sherman, a stone-fruit producer from Franschhoek, is looking forward to deepening his understanding of Hortgro’s work in trade logistics and market access while sharpening his leadership skills to make a more meaningful contribution to the industry.

Phillipus Hauptfleisch, a stone and pome fruit farmer from Vrolikheid Estate near Tulbagh, wants a clearer picture of how Hortgro operates day-to-day and who is responsible for what — insight he can use to help producers at farm level contribute more meaningfully to the industry’s growth and stability. With a particular interest in marketing, he’s keen to understand more about where the industry’s products ultimately go.

Saadick Samaai of Hortfin is focused on strengthening leadership skills and broadening understanding of the agricultural value chain — from the financing challenges producers face to the discussions needed to find real solutions to industry-wide problems.

Ullrich Arendse, Project Manager at Hortgro, hopes the programme’s network of like-minded young professionals will help him better understand industry structures, enabling him to offer more effective support to producers.

Naas van Rooyen, a producer at Target Brand Orchards in the Langkloof, hopes to learn about new technology and innovative ideas in agriculture while building new relationships across the industry.

Neo Macuphe, a horticulturist at Kromco, is focused squarely on logistics and market access — including possible solutions with Transnet — and is concerned about the shrinking toolkit of agricultural remedies available to producers and looming phytosanitary challenges.

Tadenda Kawhena, COO at Provar, sees Launchpad as an opportunity to step outside his usual silo and learn from peers across the industry. He’s especially looking forward to the programme’s personal development component and to tackling real-world sustainability challenges, such as climate change, head-on.

Pieter-Steyn de Wet, an agricultural economist and information manager at Hortgro, hopes to deepen his knowledge of the sector — from orchards to packhouses to logistics — so he can better equip producers and stakeholders with the information they need to make sound decisions.

Sebastian Wolfaardt of Ceres Cascade Farms sees enormous value in simply connecting with people who don’t always share information across silos, especially given the growing competitiveness of the international market. He’s encouraged by a new generation of technical people who are far more open to sharing knowledge.

Nanike Esterhuizen, an applied researcher in Hortgro Science’s Crop Protection Programme, admitted she sometimes feels like an outsider as a scientist working alongside industry — and views Launchpad as a chance to bridge that gap. Her takeaway echoes Rabe’s: meet the farmer.

Josh Kreft, an engineer at Gas-at-Site, hopes to broaden his knowledge beyond his engineering background and believes the industry could do far more to borrow proven technology from other sectors. He’s also concerned about the skills gap left by an ageing, retiring workforce — and about the industry’s biggest looming postharvest threat: access to electricity.

Building the Future, Together

What emerges clearly from this first gathering is a shared hunger — across very different roles and backgrounds — to break out of silos, understand the industry, and build the relationships that will enable this next generation to solve tomorrow’s problems together. From market access and logistics to climate change, energy security, and the shrinking toolbox of crop-protection products, the challenges ahead are significant. But with a group this engaged, the deciduous fruit industry’s future leadership is off to a promising start.