If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life

“When I get up in the morning, I don’t go to work - I go farming,” said Org Lindeque of ANRO Boerdery. This philosophy applies to the whole team on this farm.

January 19, 2020

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Org Lindeque grew up on a Free State farm and loves tractors. Farming is his forte – it is his soul. Despite the demanding nature of farming, the daily learning and adapting create its own magic.

He moved to the Lowveld in 2005 to farm with citrus, macadamias and mangoes. In 2018, he took up his current position. “The learning curve was exceptionally steep, but rewarding nevertheless. We then started a macadamia nursery.

“The macadamia industry is fascinating – it is alive! Change is constant. No two days are the same. Every year presents new pests, new spraying demands and new negotiations on pricing. We have a state-of-the-art 300-tonne drying plant on the farm, so we often accommodate the excess harvests from other farms. The plant allows us to dry this tonnage within 7 to 10 days. We also pack macadamias nut-in-shell for export.

“The farm covers about 100 hectares, with 74 under macadamia trees. Scouting and checking the orchards for pests is a daily necessity, as it helps us to plan the spraying of crops more effectively. This also eliminates the need for unnecessary spraying and costly spraying.

“One of our pride and joys is our nursery, which was established in 2020. Previously it was used to grow tomatoes and other veggies. Because of the drop in demand for this, we decided to grow our own macadamia seedlings. This process is managed by Eric Ansley, our nursery manager. The man is a genius.

“This nursery within a farming operation is quite unique. It allows us to produce extremely high-quality root stock with superb root systems. This is an important requirement for productive macadamia trees. These we then graft through a process of ring barking to create specific varieties. This grafting process is technical and is done by a team of specialists. Our base material is Beaumont. We grow seven different varieties on this farm. Among these are Beaumont, 816, A4, A16 and Nelmac 2.”

Their current seedling stock count is about 215 000. “It is our intention to supply other farmers – some in the Western Cape, Natal, Limpopo and locally in Mpumalanga – with the same quality stock we use and prefer. We have blocks (mother blocks) of trees that are grown specifically to supply superb base stock material. This helps us to produce high-yielding and fast-growing macadamia trees.”

Macadamia farming also demands meticulous water management and fertiliser applications.

ANRO Boerdery is accredited to Sgasa, Global G.A.P., CSD, Samac and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

“The secret of successful farming lies in the principals of farming the soil. More natural or enviro-friendly preparations will yield better harvests and improved longevity of your land.

“It is our intention to not just set the benchmark with quality root stock, but also to add more diversity within the business. Manufacturing Ellepot (plantable seedling containers) is one. Designing and manufacturing quality and durable farming equipment – trailers being but one product – for the farming environment, is another.

“ANRO Boerdery is about integrity – adding value and excellent teamwork, and without Robert Spath, responsible for the most delicious macadamia honey, Anneri Lindeque, who makes sure all our accreditations is up to date, Spencer Brown, manufacturing and project management, Eric Ansley, our brilliant and invaluable nursery manager, Hanli Louw, keeping the admin side of our nursery running smooth and assisting our nursery manager, Alia Masinga, responsible for staff time-keeping and office admin, as well as all of our staff (a total of 55 people), we would not be.