Social rejuvenation on a Western Cape fruit farm

Pome fruit farmer lan Cunningham, named Agri Western Cape Santam Agriculture Young Farmer of the Year for 2022, has improved much more than just the orchards on his apple farm near Villiersdorp. He spoke to Glenneis Kriel about the various initiatives and incentives aimed at bettering the lives of his farmworkers.

- Glenneis Kriel

In a previous issue (FW, 29 January 2021), Farmer's Weekly spoke to pome fruit farmer Ian Cunningham about how he was rewriting the rules on apple rootstock longevity on his family farm Fine Fruit, near Elgin in the Western Cape. His methods included the use of the Geneva rootstock CG 778, as well as regenerative farming principles.

In the article, Cunningham argued that, in combination with healthy soil, the rootstock's tolerance to replant disease could increase its longevity by at least 15 years.

Thus, it promised to reduce production costs significantly by enabling farmers to graft new plant material onto the rootstocks, rather than planting grafted material from scratch, and shortening the time it took for the trees to reach commercial production by a year or two.

Almost two years later, these practices, along with the planting of trees at higher densities and the use of new technologies, are making a huge difference to the farm's bottom line. As successful as these approaches have been, his operation has seen an even bigger game changer, according to Cunningham: the purchase of the High Noon farm in the Kaaimansgat Valley near Villiersdorp in October 2020.

"Fine Farms has reached its production ceiling, whereas High Noon has a lot of room for improvement. To get an extra 2% out of Fine Farms would require more than 10% effort, whereas a mere 2% effort will repay me with a 20% to 30% increase in production at High Noon," he explains.

Fine Farms, a 160ha operation, has approximately 100ha under pome fruit. In contrast, production at High Noon, which consists of 1 800ha, can be expanded from 202ha to 240ha, according to Cunningham.

A RISK WORTH TAKING