A citrus farm in the Western Cape lost 20 tons of mandarins due to rains and cold weather. But instead of dumping the ‘non-market worthy’ fruit, owners of Fijnveld Farm, Sue Fry and her husband, Mark, donated the fruit to several food distribution organizations. Sue stated: “We had some bad weather which caused damage to the fruit and meant that 30% of our crop rather than the expected 10%, could not be exported.”
She said that due to rains and cold wind, most of the leaves of the crop grew against the peel of the fruit, which left marks on the fruit. “The fruit itself was not ruined, but the result of the rain and cold wind left marks on the skin, which reduces market quality,” she said. “The damage was only to the skin and had no effect on the quality of the fruit. It was unexpected, we had not planned another market and the local market is full of citrus fruits anyway.”
“it just didn’t feel right to get rid of perfectly good mandarins and we couldn’t just make compost with all of it,” Sue explained. “That’s why it was important for us to find a person who would help us give the fruit to people who need it because even vendors would not be able to sell it. I was happy we found Food Forward SA.”
Source: foodformzansi.co.za