(Summary extracted from a report by the Global Coalition of Fresh Produce)* Fresh produce—fruits and vegetables—is essential to a healthy diet, yet the industry that brings these foods to our tables faces significant challenges. Understanding the complexities behind costs, pricing,…
After 44 years in the deciduous fruit industry, Hugh Campbell retires as Hortgro Technical General Manager to begin a new career phase. He spoke to Anna Mouton. On a Sunday afternoon in 1976, a young Hugh Campbell lined up with…
The 1662 award commemorates the first apples that were harvested in the Company Garden at the Cape in that year – 17 April to be exact. Joy van Biljon, one of the founding members of the Koue Bokkeveld Training Centre,…
If you are a producer, a social (ethical) auditor is maybe not necessarily someone you might invite over for tea, yet these ‘agents of change’ form a crucial spoke in the economic value chain wheel. Elise-Marie Steenkamp investigates. As global requirements…
By Kara van der Berg Ladismith. – Hortgro Dried Tree Fruit recently held a four-day long seminar themed the Kannaland Youth Week to introduce young people from Ladismith and surrounding communities to career possibilities in agriculture. Chris Krone and Christine…
Agritourism series: A special attraction on La Plaisante near Wolseley. By Gerrit Rautenbach. Between 1900 and 1901the British built two blockhouses next to two railway bridges close to the town of Wolseley. In 1920, only 19 years later, Leicester Dicey,…
The Jobs Fund Initiatives is the Deciduous Fruit Development Chamber’s Commercialisation Programme. It started in 2016 and is aimed at graduating a group of smallholder farmers to commercial status. Hortgro and the DFDC-SA recently went on a monitoring and evaluation…
In industry, formal independent fruit cultivar evaluation by Provar is supported by various in-season ‘Fruit Tastings’ to showcase the latest cultivars and selections belonging to IP representatives and fruit breeders. Provar, as the host for these industry tastings, invites all…
By Jacques du Preez After an unexpected, but welcome, increase in stone fruit production during the previous season, especially the plum industry is anticipating export volumes that are in line with the 2021/22 season. Normality has returned after the drought…
There are already many clinical studies that demonstrate the benefits of eating more fruit and vegetables. What stands out about a recently reviewed study published by Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts in American Academy of…
FruitLook is a web-based tool that is informing farmers, consultants and researchers in the Western Cape since 2011. It used to be used primarily for monitoring the growth and water use of vineyards, hence, its original moniker of GrapeLook. Since…
Prepared by Brian Berkman The last years have been challenging for one and all but, for Andre Cloete, a Tru-Cape apple and pear grower, near Greyton in the Western Cape’s Overberg region, it has been especially hard. “My wife Charmaine…