Graaff Fruit - Production Units

Our Production Units

Lushof

Lushof Farm is where Graaff Fruit has its origins. The farm was bought by Dawie Graaff in 1968. Robert Graaff, the first member of the Graaff family to live on the farm, moved to in 1997 and started farming there. Since then the farm has been expanded from from 80ha under production to 220ha. The farm is in the Warm Bokkeveld area near the town of Prince Alfred Hamlet. The climate is medium chill with high summer temperatures which produce good sugar levels. Lushof receives water from mountain runoff through local irrigations schemes.

Under the guidance of Danie Viljoen and his team, we produce apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, pears and apples here.

Romansrivier

Situated in the Wolseley Valley, Romansrivier has a milder climate than Lushof but is very windy. To mitigate this climate challenge we produce our fruit under nets which protect the trees and fruit from wind damage. As our storage dam is situated higher than our orchards, we are able to irrigate our orchards by gravitational flow which ensures a very low carbon footprint.

We are proud of our Romansrivier nature reserve which is managed in co-operation with CapeNature and seeds from plant species growing in the reserve have been sent to the Millennium Seed Bank in the UK.

This unit is managed by Pierre de Wet and produces the earliest Graaff Fruit stone fruit.

Rietfontein

Rietfontein was purchased in 2012. This very large farm is situated in the golden Triangle in the Koue Bokkeveld 50km north of Ceres and the acquisition of the farm added a significant apple portfolio to Graaff Fruit’s productions. This region receives very high winter chill units and has mild summers.

The farm has abundant water supplies.  This unit is managed by Christi van den Heever and there is still considerable opportunity for expansion at Rietfontein.