Outstanding in South Africa

As the “indoor” symposium came to an end, the outdoor tours began. Three ARRA showcases, highlighting outstanding ARRA Varieties, were held and led by both the TopFruit and Grapa teams. The first field day tours were at the TopFruit Test Block in Uitkomst, where the many 10th ITGS delegates could learn about the TopFruit operation as well as their topnotch test block management. The attendees were led in small groups to see and discuss the varieties on show. ARRA Honey Pop™ ARRA Fire Crunch™ and ARRA Cherry Crush™ drew much attention and were the talk of the day. Simultaneously, at the Villion Farms in the Hex River Valley, the teams greeted the symposium delegates with a special focus on and ARRA Passion Fire™.

TopFruit Test Block - ARRA Honey Pop and ARRA Passion Fire

Villion Farm, Hex River - ARRA Passion Fire

The host with the most Anton Viljoen with family, Hex River

Arnold Viljoen, sharing the passion at Villion Farm, Hex River

The last 10th ITGS tour was held several days later in the Northern Cape at Roepersfontein (Karsten), attendees enjoyed the ARRA Passion Fire production block as well as some fresh ARRA Honey Pop. The attendees were captivated and had many questions that were all answered by Georgios Bitsakos and Andre Agenbag with their unique view point they handled it very well.

Smiling Georgios Bitsakos at the ARRA display

Let's talk about the markets

A special marketing insights seminar exclusively for ARRA exporters was held at the TopFruit offices. This was a unique opportunity to offer our guests a fresh angle on different market destinations and aspects. These included a talk on packaging innovation by Gilad Sadan, “Packaging Hippie”, N.A.V.I. CO Global. He shared the latest trends from around the world. Mimi Corsaro, VP Marketing & Director Export Sales, Giumarra Vineyards Corp presented her insights on the Asian markets, based on her rich experience in successfully exporting the ARRA Varieties. An interesting panel discussion was held about the EU Markets by the experienced industry players Nico Van Der Merwe, Director at Naturesemart, Leon De Kock, CEO at Grape Alliance, Riaan Swart, director of deciduous at Dole RSA, was led by Hein Coetzee, TopFruits COO. Closing the seminar, Georgios Bitsakos, Grapa’s Head of Brand Marketing shared his outlook on the UK Market based on his extensive experience with the UK market.

The Panel: Nico Van Der Merwe, Leon De Kock and Riaan Swart,

More Adventures in the Northern Cape

As the teams were already in the Northern Cape, they made the most of their time and held their own tour of Sweet Sensation and Shelfco Farms, led by DJ Strauss.

Sweet Sensation - ARRA vibes

Shachar and Stephan Nel in ARRA Sweeties block

Dries Smit, Sweet Sensation Farm Manager: "It is my favourite variety on the farm, we have good success with this variety."

ARRA Honey Pop - is the next best thing

Andre Vermaak, Global Tech Support Advisor, gives us a private tour at Sweet Sensation, highlighting ARRA Honey Pop, 1 year old vines. “Taste is amazing, Fertility is amazing”. Andre quotes DJ Straus, Sweet Sensation Farm Manager who summed it up perfectly: “This is the next best thing”.

Trisano Farm

A tour of Tirisano Farms was led by Theunis Engelbrecht. The farm tours were the perfect setting to learn from the father of these varieties, Shachar Karniel. The growers enjoyed the face-to-face, hands-on interaction with Grapa and the TopFruit teams. As relationships are a key part of our vision, we are truly grateful to be able to continuously build and strengthen these meaningful ties.