Blackberries And Much More

The owner of a small farm has to find innovative ways to remain financially viable. Natalie Turck of Wildebraam Berry Estate spoke to Glenneis Kriel about how she and her husband accomplish this.

- Natalie Turck

A decade ago, the Hermitage Valley near Swellendam was one of the largest youngberry- and blackberry producing areas in South Africa. Today, it is effectively only blackberries that remain; Wildebraam Berry Estate is the only farm in the area to still grow youngberries, and that on a mere hectare. The crop is used almost exclusively in value-added products, such as liqueurs and jams.

Natalie Turck, who owns the farm with her husband, Martyn, blames the decline on poor returns.

“Bulk buyers stopped differentiating pricing between youngberries and blackberries. So we, like many other farmers in the region, switched to blackberries, which are easier and cheaper to produce as they don’t have a trailing habit and produce a higher yield than youngberries.”

Wildebraam, which covers 11ha, now has 4ha under blackberry production.

Despite the rising demand for fresh berries, blackberry production, too, is under pressure due to increasing input costs, especially labour and electricity, in combination with competition with cheap imports, primarily from the East. The Turcks have therefore had to think out of the box to find ways to enhance farm profitability.

One of the biggest changes they have effected is the way they sell their berries.

“In the past, we could merely sit back and wait for buyers to fetch our berries. These days, we’re much more progressive in negotiating sales terms, and have significantly diversified our markets,” says Turck.

While Wildebraam has always added value to a small portion of its produce by processing it into jams, chutneys and liqueurs, they now divert their bulk sale berries to the fresh and frozen markets.

THE FROZEN MARKET