South Africa’s oldest family-owned business: A 283-year-old farm with export-quality fruit and craft cannabis
Boplaas Farm, renowned for producing world-class export apples and pears, is South Africa’s oldest family business.
Boplaas Farm was established in 1743 by Izaak van der Merwe in the Koue Bokkeveld near Ceres, approximately 200 km north-east of Cape Town.
Over the last 283 years, the farm and export business has remained home to eleven generations of the Van der Merwe family.
The farm holds a significant family, cultural and national history. The well-maintained homestead and main dwelling were built in 1780 in the Cape vernacular style.
The farmhouse hosts a rich and diverse collection of antique household items, décor elements and furniture used over the centuries.
The furniture, mostly handcrafted, incorporates 21 different wood species, including yellow, cedar, and stinkwood.
It also features other historic buildings, including the barn, watermill, baking house and soap house, which is a great example of a traditional farmyard in South Africa.
The farm’s homestead and main dwelling were named a National Monument in 1973 and have since been designated as a provincial heritage site.
Boplaas has family and historical connections with the Afrikaans writer and poet, I.W. van der Merwe, known as Boerneef.
Eighth-generation farmer on the land, Carl van der Merwe, known as Carl Boplaas, was his nephew and a poet in his own right.
Embedded within the rich heritage of Boplaas is the moral compass and shared beliefs that define and shape the Van der Merwe family.
Core family values include honesty, respect, integrity, gratitude and perseverance. This commitment extends to the land which is cultivated.
The Boplaas Farm business
Schalk van der Merwe, the tenth-generation custodian of Boplaas Farm, manages the cultivation of the farm.
He lives on the property with his wife, Kyla, and their youngest child, Fanie, who is an eleventh-generation Van der Merwe.
Boplaas Farm exports fruit to more than 80 countries in Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, South-East Asia, North America, Africa, and Australia. It includes:
- Pome fruit: Export-quality apples and pears, cultivated on Boplaas, Dankbaar and Bergvliet.
- Stone fruit: Export-quality peaches, cultivated and produced on Dankbaar.
- Citrus fruit: Export-quality oranges, tangerines and lemons cultivated on Marlenique and Du Cap near Paarl.
More recently, Boplaas Farm expanded by adding a cannabis production facility for the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.
“We produce and market the highest quality craft cannabis for research and to champion non-harmful alternatives for pain management and mental health,” it said.
Apart from producing world-class fruit on Boplaas Farm and related properties, the Van der Merwe family also owns other agricultural assets.
It includes the Marlenique Packhouse, a citrus and stone fruit packing and cooling facility on the Marlenique farm, Paarl.
The Marlenique Packhouse provides contract packing services to the surrounding citrus and stone fruit industry.
Another interesting asset is its floating photovoltaic plant, which has pioneered the implementation of floating alternative energy sources.
The photovoltaic plant is the first commercially operational system in Africa and the largest of its kind at 60 kWp.
Boplaas Farm photos
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