Good teamwork makes this farm tops!

Stettyn Farm in the Western Cape recently won the Tru-Cape Award for the highest number of class-one pack-outs and income per hectare for apples. Hendrik Botha, the owner, shared his formula for success with Glenneis Kriel.

- Glenneis Kriel

Getting a recipe for farming success from Hendrik Botha is not an easy task, as he, modestly, only wants to talk about the way in which the farming community of Stettyn, near Villiersdorp in the Western Cape, is working together to grow their sustainability and create jobs.

“We are a close-knit community, consisting of only a handful of farmers, who are related to one another and grew up together.

“As such, we help each other and look out for one another, and I always have a soundboard I can bounce ideas off. Everything is a team effort,” he says.

Botha recently won the Tru-Cape Award for the highest number of class-one pack-outs and income per hectare for apples.

When he finally does talk about pome fruit production, this farmer, who only ventured into pome fruit production in 2012, makes little of the prestigious award: “We only have 21ha under apples and pears, making it much easier to keep a grip on quality than if the farm was bigger,” says Botha. Venturing into pome fruit production so late also allowed him to learn from other farmers’ experiences.

FAST FACTS
The area under pome fruit production is small, making it easy to manage.

Tractors are kept on tractor roads during picking to prevent the bruising of fruit and ease picking.

Regular meetings and training sessions ensure everyone knows what is expected of them.

“The Botha family has been farming at Stettyn since 1818. Over the years the original farm, which has been subdivided multiple times to accommodate follow-up generations, acquired shares in Two-aDay, which sells fruit via Tru-Cape.