New team to support South African growers

Two young men, born and bred from grower families and educated as grower technicians, head the new office of Don Limon in Paarl, South Africa. Their job is to help growers market their fruit, where Don Limon provides the, marketing, logistics and sales. “We understand the challenges that growers face, as we grew up on the farms and worked in this industry since teenage. It really helps working with the growers in our role as commerce partners,” Edrich Burger, 26 year old South African in charge of citrus, explains.

Each of the team members in Paarl brings his own focus. Carel Jacobs, 28 year old South African in charge of grapes, and Edrich on citrus. Crops they really know well. Yet Carel is modest to quickly point out “expertise with a single crop doesn’t make one an expert. In my book, there are only a few individuals that can be considered authorities in their field. I wouldn’t consider myself an authority on grapes. Yet I know grapes well enough to add value to our growers and to our customers.”

This quickly becomes evident when Carel comments on his recent trip to grape growers in Egypt. Quite naturally, Don Limon will aim to offer yearround supply of grapes with different countries of origin around the globe. Where South African supply ended around February, Egypt has just come into season last week.

“What’s challenging about this year, is that the crop has sustained low temperatures during flowering, which has affected the setting of the clusters to be uneven. This results in unequal sizing of berries on the vines. It requires a lot of extra manual work in the vineyards to thin out all the undersized berries and only the most professional growers know well how to cope with this. Others which employ less professionalism, will struggle to sustain the quality of their fruit this year. It will also result in bottle necks of certain varieties, resulting in more than usual fruit being ripe at once. This will put a lot of pressure on the pack houses.” Jacobs vividly describes.

Another very important trait of the South African team is its transparency. “Our growers need to know exactly what we do, why we do it and at which expenses. I would want to see this, as a grower. So naturally, we would be open towards the grower to check our books to see how we’re managing,” says Edrich.

The guys are enthusiastic about the pillars of their South African organization. “We combine technical grower knowledge with a strong logistical and marketing organization, that offers sales as a service with a high level of transparency.” Their call to action for both growers and importers: “Work with us. We only just started, so now is the best time to join us under favorable conditions.”

More information:
Andreas Schindler
Pilz Schindler GmbH
T: +49 (0)40 - 3095499-45
M: +49 (0)171 8583 211
Email: aschindler@pilz-schindler.de
www.don-limon.de