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…
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…
By Gerrit Rautenbach In January of this year, one of the biggest nightmares for any fruit farmer became a horrible reality in the Langkloof. Hail. Some farmers were fortunate, some less so and some got wrecked by the falling ice…
The deciduous fruit industry is one of the largest export sectors within the agricultural sector. It employs on average 63,145 permanent equivalent farm workers per annum with an estimated 252 579 dependents. The National Minimum Wage Commission recommended to the…
Hortgro has submitted a summary of main concerns to the portfolio committee of the department of agriculture, land reform, and rural development regarding the Agricultural Produce Agents Amendment Bill (B33 – 2020). The Agricultural Produce Agents Act 12 of 1992…
The ongoing dispute in the blueberry industry relating to intellectual property (IP) and related Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR), is noted with concern. This is a private commercial matter and should be handled as such. Given the potential negative impact on…
Deur Elise-Marie Steenkamp ‘n Pakhuis is nie ‘n hospitaal nie en elke rolspeler in die waardeketting moet alles in hul vermoë doen om probleemvrugte uit die mark te hou. Dit was die beroep van Charl Stander, Hortgro Stone verteenwoordiger en…
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…
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…
By Eddie Vienings and Dianca Yssel South Africa is a water scarce region of the world, receiving 40% less precipitation than the global annual average. The implications of this have become clearly evident in recent times – with almost all…
A state-of-the-art Tissue Culture Facility (TCF) was opened by Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ivan Meyer, at Bernheim Farm, outside Paarl, yesterday. This initiative driven by the South African deciduous fruit industry is an effort to keep up with…
