We visited when they were busy packing pomegranates.
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"The Le Roux group, consists of three farms, and a pack house,” says Marius Voigt of Fruit2U Packers. "We have two grape farms in this area, and one big stonefruit farm where we grow plums and nectarines.”
The group aims to keep control of their product as much as possible by having their own coldrooms. Exports and Logistics is managed by the Group’s Export Company.
Voigt added that the pack house, Fruit2U packers, is built for stonefruit. “On the grape farms they’ve also got pack sheds, where they pack the grapes and send the full pallets here, from where we then export. We pack the stonefruit here and export it from here. All the grapes and all the stonefruit come to this facility. The Fruit2U Packhouse is fitted with optical sizers and is designed and built to handle softfruit. Since the rebuild a water tipper was added to enhance the versatility of the facility."
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In the winter months the packhouse is able to handle pomegranates, apples, kiwis and citrus from outside producers. The packhouse is ideally positioned to except the increase in citrus volumes from the Western Cape.
Packhouse manager Marius Voigt
They are a large group of about 4500 people employed on the farms. Voigt commented that Fruit2U packers are a little different from everyone else: “What’s slightly different about us is that this facility is a cold chain. When the fruit arrives it goes into cold storage immediately. If the fruit is very warm, then we take it through cold water to take the field heat out, and then it goes into cold storage and then on to the line. The whole pack house is air-conditioned with cold water. The temperature in the cold stores goes from 22°C to 15°C to 8°C, then to 6°C or 0°C depending on the type of fruit. We’ve got a very good cold chain, and its also good for us because our outside temperatures can reach 45°C but it is always 22°C inside.”
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For more information:
Marius Voigt
Fruit2U
Tel: +27 21 8641967