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My name is Blackie Swart and together with my family I grow organic oranges, lemons and mandarins for Nature & More in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Our company, Sun Valley Growers, is a cooperation of 4 independent citrus farmers, managing 7 farms. I try and coordinate the activities between the different farms as best as possible. Thank you for buying our fruit and hope you enjoy eating it!

The Sun Valley farms are located in the Sundays River Valley. We are close to the Greater Addo National Park, an elephant reserve comprising of 1.2 million acres of land set aside for animals to roam freely. Apart from elephants, other game can be found here such as the black rhinoceros, buffalo’s, antelopes and lions. The Sundays River receives water from one of the largest rivers in South Africa, the Orange River. We are as a family very connected to nature and the little free time we have we like to spend on our game farm or in natural places in the area.

Organic farming started here in the nineties, when I got involved as a pioneer. I noticed that the warm air of the valley was no longer laden with the scent of oranges, due to intensive use of chemicals. More and more growers went out of business, because of the deregulation of the citrus industry. Many parts of the valley were neglected. After doing some research, I decided that organic farming was the answer to both these problems. Now the orchards are strong and healthy again!

Sun Valley Farms has developed it’s own way of producing and selling organic crops. We hope to attract more growers to change to organic methods in the future. It is great to have a familiy run business where we all have own responsibilities and challenges in making the business what it is today!