Sep 2021 - Ballito Umhlanga
Spring flowers, fun and food. Houseboat cruising on Lake Jozini, macadamia nut farming, celebrating Heritage day in style with Black Elephant Vintners, exploring our North Coast with its array of attractions and a Montblanc spoil for him and her.
Spring flowers, fun and food. Houseboat cruising on Lake Jozini, macadamia nut farming, celebrating Heritage day in style with Black Elephant Vintners, exploring our North Coast with its array of attractions and a Montblanc spoil for him and her.
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Living the farm dream<br />
There is no denying that macadamia nut farming is a lucrative, growing business<br />
in South Africa - and particularly here on the KZN North Coast. We spoke to a local<br />
macadamia farmer about this exciting crop.<br />
Text: Leah Shone Photographs: Chris Allan Photo<br />
Almost every South African has, at<br />
some point, fantasized about what it<br />
would be like to live on a farm. Wide<br />
open spaces, beautiful countryside<br />
and the pleasure and reward of<br />
growing a crop and reaping the<br />
benefits of what you have sown.<br />
While this may seem like just a pipe<br />
dream to most, there are many North<br />
Coasters who are turning this dream<br />
into a reality. Their crop of choice?<br />
Macadamia nut trees.<br />
Macadamia nuts are a profitable,<br />
high value crop … and our nuts are<br />
in high demand. In fact, South Africa<br />
is currently the largest macadamia<br />
nut producer in the world. And our<br />
beautiful, tropical North Coast climate<br />
makes this the ideal spot to grow<br />
these delicious, multi-purpose nuts!<br />
Fairview Estates, just outside <strong>Ballito</strong>, is<br />
a 480-hectare estate that encourages<br />
people to go back to traditional farmstyle<br />
living – within a secure estate.<br />
When you buy a piece of land in the<br />
34 Get It • <strong>Ballito</strong> <strong>Umhlanga</strong> <strong>Sep</strong>tember <strong>2021</strong><br />
estate you are also afforded the chance to become a member of the macadamia<br />
co-op, allowing you to enjoy a taste of small-to-medium-scale commercial<br />
farming by planting and harvesting macadamia nuts on your small-holding.<br />
Fairview Estates Macadamia Co-op CEO and farmer Scott Meyer lives on the<br />
estate and heads up the macadamia co-op. He is passionate about this exciting<br />
venture, particularly because, he says, the crops are being grown in a truly<br />
sustainable way, which is somewhat different from the traditional, commercial<br />
farming environment.<br />
“It’s really exciting to be regenerating this land and reintroducing a wide range of<br />
biodiversities,” he says. “As this was an old sugar cane farm, we are moving away<br />
from that monoculture and redeveloping grasslands and allowing wild flowers to<br />
grow. This means there are loads of birds, butterflies and insects and the land is<br />
full of life once more.”<br />
Scott says macadamia nut farming allows you to use regenerative farming<br />
processes that incorporate different biodiversities, allowing nature to do its thing<br />
within its ecosystems with no chemical interceptions.<br />
“Macadamia trees only produce nuts six to 10 years after planting, so this is a<br />
long-term investment. But this also means you don’t need to spray pesticides<br />
(which often kill both the good and bad bugs) to protect the nuts. It’s wonderful<br />
to see the soil full of earthworms and butterflies and bees coming back to this<br />
land.”<br />
There are a number of benefits to being a member of the farming co-op,<br />
especially because you don’t have to invest in farming equipment, vehicles and<br />
staff yourself. You also don’t have to know too much about farming!<br />
Fairview owner Dudley Wang says, like many South Africans, he has always