SATI

Case Study

Lushof
Berg River

Former owner, Breda van Niekerk, introduced organic table grape production to Lushof in the Saron region, thirteen years ago. Since then, production on this 213 hectare farm has gone from strength to strength.

At Lushof, the table grape pruning, cutting, preparation, harvest and packing season is accompanied by the operations of a successful blueberry business which helps the farm to provide work for its employees all year round.

Apart from permanent workers, Lushof offers jobs to a minimum of 125 women in the vineyards and nearly 350 seasonal workers during the harvest season. Pruning and preparation of vineyards starts in early July and the grape crop is harvested between January and March. The blueberries are harvested and packed from early August till mid- December, with smaller groups of harvesters still in service until mid-January.

All workers who were permanently employed in 2004, together with their spouses and their children who were over the age of 18, had the opportunity to become beneficiaries of the then newly formed Lushof trust. At the time, 26 percent of the shares were allocated to the workers’ trust and 74 percent of the shares were retained by their UK based partner and major shareholder, Dream Maker Fruits.

Warren Bam is the production manager on the farm, and also the son of a former farm worker says, “Today, I cannot actually believe that I am responsible for the production of the Lushof farming operations. When I finished high school, I wanted to study, but my parents could not afford to support my studies. I then decided to approach Ben van Niekerk (Breda’s farther) to support my post-school education. We as a family are very grateful to him. He not only supported me, but he also provided a new house for my parents in the town of Saron.”

A crèche for the toddlers and pre-school for children of the Lushof community will soon be established with funds to be made available by the Waitrose Foundation. In 2014, Lushof Fruits will begin to upgrade the worker housing. The upgrade will include a privately fenced yard for each home. Ablution and cooking facilities will be revamped also.

Warren explains that his wife Connie, their 12-year-old daughter, Tremaine, and nine-year- old son, Gabriël, are all inspired by the prospects of success for the worker shareholders as well as the permanent and seasonal workers. “If you find your calling in life and respond to it, you can be successful. If you use your talents, you can find the space to enjoy life to the fullest”.

Lushof Fruit’s table grapes are accredited with Globalgap, British Retail Consortium (BRC)
Tesco Nurture, Linking Environment and Farming, ( LEAF) as well as European, US and Canadian
Organic certification. Grapes are exported to the USA, Canada, UK and Europe.

For more case studies like this one, download our Power of the Grape, 2nd edition pdf