SA Cherries
Cherry farms in South Africa

Highland Organics Pty Ltd has 17 hectares of cherry orchards established since 2001. The orchards are on the farm Zoekop in the Belfast District. A further 3 ha of orchards are farmed under management agreement with the Borkum and Hare families at Hiddendale which is also situated in the Dullstroom area.

The Dullstroom/Belfast area does not have extensive arable land, and this restricts the extent of the orchards.

The cherries are marketed as SACherries in the export market and Dullstroom Cherries locally. To protect the cherries from the rain in the harvesting season, the orchards are grown in Haygrove poly tunnels.

The following varieties are established at Highlands Organics:
Bing; Lapins; Cashmere; Royal Dawn; Rainier; Royal Lee and Mini Royal.

The cherries are established in deep Hutton and Avalon type soils, varying from more than 2 meters to 60cm in depth. Drainage is good and the clay percentage varies from 16-25%.

The Dullstroom/Belfast area is 1800 to 2200 meters above sea level, and is situated on the 25 15 S to 25 30 S latitude. Access is via the N4 motorway connecting Johannesburg/Pretoria to Nelspruit and the Kruger National Park and the R540 to Lydenburg going through Dullstroom. The distance to OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg) is 206km from the pack house.

Maria Dube, appointed Best Farm Worker 2017 at the provincial DAFF FEA 2017