Dutoit Packing Facilities
OUR IMPACT
Dutoit
Dutoit has been in the business of farming for over 130 years. We’re committed to this country and try to leave a positive legacy in everything we do. We harvest tons of fruit and vegetables each year, and also export our produce. We feel very strongly about making a strong economic impact in South Africa and fostering robust food security as well. Our business is more like a family.
OUR FOCUS
moving goodness
Our packhouses are primarily in Ceres, but we have an Eastern Cape operation as well. Our fruit business is called ‘Dutoit Vrugte’, our vegetable business is ‘Dutoit Groente’ and our Eastern Cape outlet is ‘Dutoit Eastern Cape’. Find out more about these below.
HARVEST
About 250 000 tons of fruit each year! If one bakkie can take one ton of fruit, that equals a line of bakkies from Ceres to Bloemfontein! Or an interlinked ‘super-truck’ stretching for almost 120km.
SORTING
A high-speed camera takes up to 80 images per fruit! The computer grades the fruit according to size, colour distribution and cosmetic defects. We plan to invest in a future when infrared technology can identify internal defects.
Every single fruit
For every fruit nature gifts us with, there’s an application, no waste. Top quality fruits are for exporting and high-end local supermarkets. We also reserve and supply municipal markets and smaller retailers.
quality control
We have a strict monitoring process from start to finish. Size, colour, and shape are core criteria. All our fruit is sorted to meet global industry standards that ensures a safe and quality product for all our customers.
renewables
We’ve already invested in solar generation technology. We’re hoping to become more self-sufficient and be less reliant on external energy in future. Load shedding has encouraged our business to become self-reliant.
future forecasting
The cycle in our business is long with trees that can take 3 – 5 years to reach full maturity. Our management team are constantly predicting what to grow and when, according to market trends and needs.
our fruit
dutoit vrugte
interesting fact
About 4-5 million fruit a day
You can keep an apple in cold storage for up to 9 months. This means we have apples available almost all year round! Apples and pears are kept in specially controlled conditions. The temperature varies from -0.5 °C to 1.5°C. Oxygen is replaced with nitrogen and the apples become dormant, with their natural ripening processes suspended.
We raise the temperature to ‘wake the apples’ up, fresh and ready to eat!
A cold room takes about 1000 bins each, with about 360 kg of fruit per bin. It is basically a huge fridge! Green, yellow, and red apples need unique storage regimes, with different temperatures for each fruit variety. Same goes for pears.
Our vegetables
Dutoit Groente
Dutoit Groente is our vegetable side, incorporating six farms and specialising in onions, potatoes and sweet potatoes.
We produce: 50 000 tons of onions, 20 000 tons of potatoes, 8 000 tons of sweet potatoes, shallots, pumpkins and fresh garlic. We adhere to the same strict quality control regimes, making use of state-of-the-art technology to pack and store onions. Sustainability is a core consideration!
our packing house
mechanism
– Africa’s only Elisam onion optical sorting & packing line: This is the top of the market line, moving 30-35 tons of onions an hour, which equals 600 to 700 crates per day!
– Automatic onion cutters that top and tail our onions to be market ready.
– A sucking system to suck up and compress all the loose onion leaves that cover the packing house floor. Like a giant vacuum cleaner…
– Air-blown onion peeling capabilities: A nozzle blasts air at the onion to remove the skin, producing a beautiful, peeled product.
STORE
We store about 60% of our onions at 1 degree for up to 9 months. Onions are dried for three days after they come out of cold storage.
DEVELOPED
We developed our own onion varieties and plant up to 25 different red and brown varieties.
EXPORT
35% of our onions are being exported. Out of season, we import onions to still the supply the local programs we are committed to.
CRYING STOPS
Onions are 90% water and 10% sulphuric acids. New team members stop reacting to the onions after about 3 days.
FANCY ONION
We have a small, niche line of shallots. We handle these babies… like babies, with everything done by human hands. We’re the only shallot producer in the country.
SWEET HARVESTER
Sweet potatoes have very loose skin so they’re notoriously difficult to harvest without damaging. We couldn’t find a harvester up to the task. So, we designed and built one ourselves.
our produce
Dutoit eastern cape
eastern cape
production
Comprises of primary agriculture, cold storage and packing facilities in the Langkloof, Eastern Cape.
Dutoit has 11 farms in the Langkloof.
production
42 000 tons of apples, pears and plums across 850 hectares of land. Apples account for 35 000 tons. We also have a small line (10 hectares) of blueberries.
packhouses
Three packhouses that are the same as our other operations, to ensure the same standard of fruit. We have our own lab for quality control and ripeness testing.
operation
24-hour shifts, with day and night teams during season. When the season is over, our night shift team assist with blueberry picking to extend their income.
Process
About 300 tons per fruit per day in peak season.
packing
Our plums in 24 hours! Like our other stone fruit, they need to be picked, sorted, packed, shipped and on shelves in a week.
New Products
With a new line of nectarines…Keep an eye out for these soon.
Novo Packing & Cooling
Novo has operated since 1997 and joined Dutoit in December 2024. Dutoit farms use 30% of its packing, 15% of cold storage, and 85% of controlled atmosphere storage. Novo also serves third-party exporters with cooling, and storage for stone fruit, grapes and citrus. A flexible pre-season packing plan from Dutoit adapts to market and logistical changes, with close coordination between Novo’s operations and dutoit Vrugte’s marketing team.
Operations
– Packing: Novo operates three packing lines, including a 6-lane conventional line (100+ tons of apples, 85+ tons of pears per shift), four dedicated apple packing lines (75 tons per shift), and an 8-lane pre-sort plant (140 tons per shift) with advanced sorting technology for colour, size, defects, and internal quality.
– Storage: Facilities include 4500 bulk bin regulated atmosphere storage, 26500 bulk bin controlled atmosphere storage, 560 pallet forced cooling (including 240 for cold sterilisation), 1600 pallet mobile racking, 400 pallet static racking, and staging cold storage for 1900 bulk bins or 320 pallets.
– Logistics: Novo provides 9000 plastic bulk bins to meet producers’ needs.
– Support: Infrastructure includes a 2000 kVa backup generator, 550 kW solar installation, and an on-site registered borehole for backup water supply.
