Tweefontein Farm

On top of the Pikteberg Mountains, located 22km from Piketberg, Tweefontein Farm was bought by Dirk Kotze (the current owner, Jaco Kotze’s, grandfather) in 1947. This picturesque farm consists of 525 hectares, with the main farm nestled in a valley. Of the 525 hectares, only 58 hectares are cultivated – 50 hectares being used for fruit, 8 hectares used for boegoe, and the rest consists of mountainous areas with various fountains, streams, dams, and a river.

The farm was originally used for stone fruit, citrus, and tobacco. Over the years the family realized that Tweefontein is best suited for stone fruit, so now their main focus is to cultivate the best stone fruit possible. The farm has lots of different cultivars, including white-fleshed nectarines, yellow-fleshed nectarines, dessert peaches and cling peaches.

Jaco took over the farm in 2003 after his father’s passing and has been farming since. He

has two production managers, Matthys Wilkinson and Dawie Arries. Dawie has been on the farm for at least 17 years.

Tweefontein’s largest source of water is the fountains and boreholes, with an average of 800 to 1000mm of rain per year. The farm also has 5 dams which are used to catch the rainwater, which is then used for irrigation during the season.

Tweefontein’s fruit season starts at the beginning of October and ends in the middle of March. To prolong the fruit season, the height advantage is used to plant cultivars at different heights above sea level – the cultivars which need a colder climate are planted higher. Tweefontein has the perfect combination of soil types, chilling units (which vary from 500 to 1200 units), rainfall, slopes, etc. to plant stone fruit.

Tweefontein gives permanent housing to 12 families, with 25 permanent workers on the Farm. Once the seasonal workers start working in June and in high season, Tweefontein supplies over a hundred workers with jobs.