I love walking
through orchards. They are beautiful. An orchard seems to be a place where a heart
finds rest. I know very few people who don't love the beautiful rolling hills
with vineyards, or the pleasing sweet smell of an orange orchard in full bloom.
From a business point
of view, orchading poses exciting opportunities. The economics of most orchards
are really good. The farmers I have met all admit that returns on orchading in South Africa
My personal
involvement in the orchard industry, focuses mainly on the pollination of
several crops. I run a highly specialized bee pollination business. www.urbanbeekeeper.co.za
I long to be more
involved in orchading, but it is nearly impossible due to the high costs of
purchasing an orchard. A second option, is to plant a new orchard, knowing a
return will take years. On citrus, nothing under 3 years, but on macadamia nuts
it might take up to 7 years to break even. Plus, setting up an orchard from
scratch is still pricey.
I also understand
that farming is not a hobby, but a highly challenging skilled job. Training and
experience are vital.
After looking at
many different options, I decided to run a trial blueberry 'orchard'. I
got my hands on 7 different varieties of blueberries.
1. Sharpblue
2. Dixi
3. Powderblue
4. Misty
5. Centurion
6. Brightwell
7. Chandler
In my next Blueberry
blog I will look at some of the challenges and opportunities I see for
blueberries in South Africa
Connect:
