Over the past two decades, Hortgro has been playing a pivotal role in the transformation of the stone and pome fruit industry. In 2007, the association along with the Western Cape Department of Agriculture initiated the tree (or “boompie”) project…
In 2001, the South African deciduous fruit industry launched goals in the transformation sphere to address economic and socio-economic development in the fruit industry to integrate new entrants into mainstream economics as soon as possible and to become part of…
For most of her life, Jenny Maarman wanted to sing. But she always believed her voice was too dark (thick, she calls it). But then Agri’s Got Talent (AGT) came her way. And opened many doors…By Gerrit Rautenbach. Jenny was…
The English poet John Donne wrote four hundred years ago, ‘No man is an island’. This adage rings particularly true for Raymond Koopstad from La Vouere farm in the Ceres Valley. His journey into agriculture took many turns, but it…
By Kara van der Berg Christynn and Nigel Jacobs bring a literal meaning to the saying “money for jam” with their jam business that started in their kitchen four years ago. The company has since grown out of its home…
By Carme Naude Najwah Allie-Edries, the head of the Jobs Fund visited the Ceres region’s beneficiaries on 7 February. The tour started at La Vouere where Raymond Koopstad welcomed them together with his strategic partners Georgie Hewitt and Pieter Wolfaardt…
Text: Glenneis Kriel The South African deciduous fruit industry, the Jobs Fund, and Land Bank recently launched Hortfin – an R600 million ring-fenced debt fund aimed at providing innovative and comprehensive financing and support systems in a manner that will…
To begin with, let’s look at the term “transformation”. In the (not so) new South Africa, the word “transformation” has become a buzzword, a politically correct term, and one often misused. The Oxford Dictionary defines transformation as “a marked change…
Deciduous Fruit Industry signs pledge to lead the way At the end of October, representatives from Hortgro Pome, Stone and the DFDC came together with the aim to align the industry strategy and to develop “an implementable, measurable, and future-focused…
It is said that the fruit of the spirit is kindness. Klaus Booysen is a man that reflects nothing but kindness. That’s why, no matter what life dished out to him, he has always been able to walk the walk…
The success story of the Haarlem Community by Gerrit Rautenbach It all started many years ago because of water. In 1963 the then Coloured Affairs Department of the governing National Party of South Africa bought the farm Anhalt because the…
Land reform, economic growth, job creation, and social cohesion in agriculture came under the spotlight recently at the PALS-Landbouweekblad Land Symposium that was held in the Koue Bokkeveld, outside Ceres. PALS is the acronym for Partners in Agri Land Solutions,…