Fresh Plaza: citrus starts well after sterling grape season

“Schoonbee brand almost year-round on the market

Schoonbee Landgoed has 850ha of citrus, of which 580ha is currently in production. The balance is expected to start bearing over the coming three years, which will necessitate a doubling in their current 11,000m2citrus packing capacity. This season a total of 1.6 million cartons of citrus will be packed on the farm (Senwes is the largest navel production area in the north of the country).

In the summer months they produce table grapes on 380ha. The 2017/18 table grape season was a very good one for them: theirs was the only table grape production region in the country that increased in production and a good season for Schoonbee Landgoed to put their new 8,000m2table grape packing facility into use. At 175 metres, their Wildebeest grape packhouse is the longest under roof packing facility in the country.

The previous season they’d had 240mm of rain during the grape harvest, which led to an increase in quality problems, but this year quality problems were negligible.

For the past four years, Schoonbee Landgoed has started taking a hand in the marketing of their own fruit, a function they share with a number of dedicated exporters, depending on areas of specialisation and return on effort. “We pack for 9 or 10 months of the year, so we can have our brand almost year-round on the market. Consistency and quality is what drive us,” Gert says.

They have introduced a range of brands within the Schoonbee stable of which the Schoonbee Premium brand sets the benchmark for the export table grape and citrus fruit category. The Schoonbee red-and-blue flagship brand, still most popular among the company’s global customer base, is now complemented by the Hello Fruit brand that reflects the diversity of both the people and the fruit at Schoonbee Landgoed. Both are marketed globally and domestically. The Fruit Suit brand for the domestic market “shows that a fruit that looks knocked down, can be dressed up in a suit and tie and be restored to its original star status.”