Bovenvlei Pomegranate farm

Bovenvlei Pomegranate farm is located on the banks of the Berg River in the Swartland district of the Western Cape in South Africa. The average annual rainfall in the area is 250 mm with maximum summer temperatures in the area of 45 °C.  

Winter temperatures are low which represents a typical Mediterranean climate profile.  Most of the orchards are planted with the “Wonderful” variety, with a few new selections under evaluation.

The 70 Ha orchards, one of the largest privately owned pomegranate farms in South Africa, are trained on a Y-shape trellis system, mainly to protect the fruit from sun damage.

We use a drip irrigation system which performs best for pomegranate orchards while conserving water sources.  Harvesting commences in late February and continues until the middle of April, just before the beginning of our autumn.  

Our people are considered a huge asset on the farm. The orchard team is trained as responsible orchard workers taking care of irrigation monitoring, scouting for pests and diseases, orchard maintenance and other tasks.

Regular training and information sessions keep them up-to-date with the latest technology and proper management and reporting system keeps operations running smoothly.

We care greatly for the conservation of our most important resources, WATER & SOIL and NATURE.  Our water-wise irrigation system is synchronised through a computerised system to allocate irrigation water according to groundwater levels in the respective orchards – avoiding over-irrigation and wasting of water.

Our main water source is certified water from an allocated registered water right from the Berg River, which forms the northern border of the farm. We implemented a farming management system to ensure that only the required number of fertilisers are applied to soils in the orchards, avoiding the over-application of fertilisers while an IPM approach with minimum impact on the environment is followed to control pests and diseases on the trees. Trees are monitored weekly for pests and diseases to ensure the responsible application of Registered crop protection remedies.

Bovenvlei farm is accredited and certified for quality assurance and sustainability indexes of the following standards. 

South Africa is home to more than 22 000 indigenous seed plants from almost 230 different families. It is also the proud home of 10% of the world’s flowering species, making it a major contributor to the global ecological scene.

At Bovenvlei Pomegranate farm, we strive to protect our biodiversity in areas with natural indigenous vegetation in collaboration with the WWF and Nature conservation. The recent discovery of a previously though extinct species, Oxalus fragilis and a red-listed endangered spp., Babiana odorata on the farm was an enthusing experience. We have erected owl houses in the orchards to protect these natural predators on the farm and currently working on establishing insect-eating bat colonies.

The farm is also a natural home to various small animals such as ibex, grey buck, aardvark, porcupines, tortoises etc. and a large variety of birdlife such as the famous fish eagle living on the riverbeds.  

Fruit at Bovenvlei Pomegranate farm is harvested from the beginning of March till mid-April, packed at a HACCP-accredited packing house and exported to various destinations.

We transform the rest of our harvest into celebrated products to enhance health and lifestyle. PurePOM (100% pure) frozen pomegranate juice and LA GRENADE, South Africa’s first pomegranate Eau de Vie are some of our delightful contributions to managing our crop’s environmental impact by minimising our crop’s waste footprint! Mail us for more information!