Brothers turn apple farm into top producer

The Lingenfelder brothers have made significant changes to production methods and orchard management since joining their family's apple and pear farming operation in the Western Cape's Overberg region. They spoke to Glenneis Kriel about their techniques, precision-farming technologies, and yield increases.

-  Glenneis Kriel

When the three Lingenfelder brothers, Albert, Guillaume, and Francois, joined their family fruit farm near Villiersdorp in the Western Cape in 1995, 2002 and 2004 respectively, they were disappointed about the yield per hectare of apples and pears.

In 2008, they joined Two-a-Day Group, and the then technical team, headed by Dr Mias Pretorius, went out of its way to help the brothers increase their tonnages of apples in particular. Today, their farm, Rustfontein, produces 75% more crates of apples than in earlier years and is amongst the top 5% of suppliers to Fruitways, a specialist marketer of apples and pears.

The Lingenfelders' technical adviser, Anton Muller, also has a major influence on their success.

"Anton has the vast industry experience and is a top specialist in his field. We work well with him because we share the same vision and production philosophy," says Albert.

HIGH-DENSITY PLANTING

Albert identifies the switch from traditional to higher planting densities as one of their main game changers. The first apple trees on the farm were planted at 5m x 3m intervals in 1978, and this was reduced over time to 4,5m x 1,5m, and then to 3,5m x 1,5m in 2016.

"Instead of 666 trees/ha, we now have 1905 trees/ha, allowing us to maximise income, while using our land, water and other resources, such as pumps, farm implements, and labour, more efficiently," he explains.

The farm has 110ha planted to apples and 36ha to pear trees, with about one-third of the apple orchards so far being planted at high density.

Guillaume encountered the results of high-density planting first-hand in 2016 when he accompanied Two-a-Day's technical team to Bolzano, Saluzzo, and South Tyrol in Italy to study how the Italians farmed apples.