Tourism and value-adding keeps family farm afloat

Heinrich Lategan is the fifth generation to farm on Tevrede, between Worcester and Wolseley in the Western Cape. Tevrede has traditionally been a grape farm, but the family has had to embrace an ethos of diversification in order to keep the business going. The past two years have proved to them just how important value-adding can be. .

- Wouter Kriel

FAST FACTS

The Lategan family has traditionally grown wine grapes, delivered to a co-operative cellar, but this has come under increasing pressure due to low margins.

Unable to expand, Lategan is exploring alternative crops to add value to their farming business.

Value-adding, by producing products such as olive oil, basil pesto, Jalapeño chillies, garlic and sundried tomatoes, has opened new doors for the family business.

Heinrich Lategan and his father, Joubert, have to grapple with the constant pressure of rising input costs and market forces on their family farm, Tevrede, which has never been expanded in size. Situated near Worcester in the Western Cape, Tevrede is a wine grape farm of 100ha, with 50ha under irrigation.

“The wine industry being what it is these days, you need at least 100ha to 150ha under vines to offset the low margins,’’ says Lategan.

This challenge has led the family on a path of diversification since Lategan joined the farm back in 2000. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, with the restrictions on liquor sales that came with it, the choice to diversify proved to be the right one.

Lategan says in the early 2000s they became acquainted with a nearby landowner who also owned a well-known Italian restaurant franchise. He had bought the land to grow basil for his chain of restaurants’ pesto recipe.

“Due to increased demand, he struggled to keep up with the basil production, and we started to grow basil for him,” recalls Lategan.