Brewery, ecotourism help brothers lift game

Having limited access to water in a traditional fruit and vineyard producing region did not stop Adrian Robinson and his brother, Phillip, from realising their farming dream. They spoke to Glenneis Kriel about how they broke out of the cost-price squeeze.

- Glenneis Kriel

Adrian Robinson and his brother, Phillip, did not know what they were getting themselves into 23 years ago when they decided over a glass of red wine in a jacuzzi to buy a 1 800ha farm in the Nuy Valley, near Robertson in the Western Cape.

Their initial idea was to start an ecotourism venture, but this had to be placed on hold due to the huge costs involved.

"My wife, Jackie, and I were teacher-turned bakers, while Phillip is an accountant. We did not know it took so much time and money to run a farm, never mind start an ecotourism business. Moving from having a regular income to only getting paid once a year was also a huge shock," Adrian explains.

So, they found themselves focusing on the production of export fruit from the farm's existing area under production. Today, they have 14ha of wine grapes, 10ha of plums, and 2ha of nectarines, peaches and olives, respectively.

Having no farming background, it took them time to learn the ropes. "We had the basics under control, and started getting decent tonnages after a couple of years. The challenge with farming, however, is that each season is different, and each cultivar has its own unique requirements."

CROPS FOCUS

"You constantly need to adapt production practices in response to these," he says.

To survive the cost crunch, they realised they had to either go bigger, focus on more intensive crops, such as berries, or do things differently.

Going bigger was not an option, as the farm's water source only has enough water to irrigate 40ha of land. They investigated the possibility of getting water from the Breede River, but that would have required a black economic partner, a kilometre-long pipeline that would have cost about R1 million and a dam that would have added R4 million to the project.