Newsletter Q3 2024

Dear members of the WelMac Circle,

We are approaching the end of another challenging year that has taught us a lot of interesting lessons. Where we knew the kernel price was struggling we managed to sell almost all of our crop as nut in shell, securing a better bottom line for our harvest. With the kernel price now rapidly recovering, almost to pre-covid levels, we are looking to capitalize on that for our next harvest. More information on that in our next newsletter!

As for volumes we have to say it was a bit disappointing, even though our volumes per hectare and our quality of nuts, far surpassed other producers in the area, we didn’t reach the volume we had anticipated. It seems to have been a problem most of the industry has been dealing with, which indicates a climatological source according to this article. In any case we did receive the prize for Highest Average Crack Out Percentage with 32,40% where the runner up was at 28%.

 It was a great month for putting our regenerative pracitses in the spotlight though! I was asked to give an interview to Invest International, which was a great opportunity to share some of our experiences, you can find this article here.

At the same time Trichardt was asked to give an interview as well, by our local supplier of organic alternatives. As we have been achieving such great results with their product they wanted to showcase our farm. We posted this full interview for you to watch on our website.  

Unfortunately also one of our staff members in South Africa passed away. Manickey Chauke was a tractor driver and has been with Welmac since our inception. He died of due to health issues and we made a monetairy contribution towards his family as well as wood and vegetables for the funeral. Our hearts go out to his family and we wish them all the best.

We hope you enjoy reading the newsletter as usual!
Nicolas  

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2024 Macadamia market

The international prices of macadamia improved during the 2024 season from historic low levels and the upward trend is continuing in the kernel market. Many kernel buyers were unable to procure sufficient kernel volumes due to many farmers marketing their nuts into the nut in shell market. Below is the latest price levels of the various styles of kernel according to the MSM market report of October.

SAMAC announced that the crop is lower than expected due to climate factors but also due to nuts being smaller. Meaning the 22mm+ nuts were much less than previous seasons which has a direct impact on final weight. You can read the whole article through the link posted in the introduction of this newsletter.  

WelMac experienced the same with a reduction in the volume of nuts above 22mm. The bulk of the 2024 production has been sold with a small portion that is still in the process of being shipped. We will be able to give a detailed season report during the year end newsletter.  

2025 season

The farm is in full preparation for the 2025 season with a very good flowering period and at this moment the nut set is looking promising across all the orchards.

Pest and disease pressure has been manageable without significant outbreaks and to date we were able to stick to our biological pest and disease program.  

WelMac uses products from a company called Andermatt who focus on biological products and they did an interview with our production manager about the success of their products as they see Welmac as a leader in the macadamia field in terms of regenerative and biological farming practises. The link to this interview is also mentioned in the introduction of this newsletter.

Albasini Nursery

With the price improvement of 2024 it is clear that farmers are busy regaining their confidence in macadamia and the nursery has picked up with business as farmers are buying small batches of trees to replace older cultivars or dead trees, but we have also received orders for more than 50ha of new developments with the potential of additional 100ha of development orders. We are therefore very excited about the outlook for the nursery for the year ahead.  

To date we have sold more than 15,000 trees which excludes the orders of the new developments.  

To add to the income of the nursery we have expanded the vegetable garden with cabbage, onions, beetroot and spinach which is being sold at farm gate at an affordable price to the surrounding areas.  

We also established a trial with green peppers in the nursery as part of our diversification plan to fully utilize the facility and generate additional income. The first peppers will be harvested early 2025.

New equipment

Welmac purchased a new Massey Ferguson 4709 cab tractor for our expanding spraying fleet which is a 71Kw tractor capable of towing the large spray carts.  

We also added a Rovic 3000 Liter Syncrospray cart, the farm now had a total of 5 spray carts which is crucial to be able to apply effective pest and disease control as well as foliar spray.  

It is not often that one finds a great bargain in life, we purchased the following equipment from a farming operation that closed down:

Fiat 640 tractor – crucial for grass slashers and trailers.

Fine seed planter – for our regenerative developments

8 ton trailer – crucial for nut deliveries to the processors.  

All the above was purchased for R90,000 ( ex VAT ) and was delivered in true South African style stacked onto a truck all the way from Ventersburg in the Free State. The tractor is loaded onto the trailer which is loaded onto the truck and the planter is disassembled into sections which was packed underneath he trailer.

School visit

On 11 October we hosted the Tsvhenda class of Louis Trichardt Primary school on their school trip. We explained to the children the following:

• Solar power

• Macadamia grafting

• Tree planting

• Production and irrigation  

• Dehusking

We demonstrated a tractor and spray cart for them and finished their visit off with a lite lunch. This is part of our ongoing community involvement to educate children in the various aspects of farming.  

Removal of pahalas

Welgevonden had 20ha of the Pahala cultivar which was already established in the early 2000’s and year on year this cultivar has been disappointing in terms of yield delivering well below 1.5 T/ha WNIS compared to the rest of the mature trees that produce more than double that amount. With all the new orchards that are coming into production we decided to remove the Pahalas and replace them with new very promising varieties from Australia that we started producing in our nursery last year and were now ready for planting. This will benefit the general production of Welgevonden in the long term, as these new trees will significantly outperform the Pahalas.

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Visit from Gerhard van Vrijaldenhoven

Gerhard visited the farm in October with his family to experience the operation first hand and see what the day to day operation consist of. You can find a full report of his visit through this link.

Interview with an employee

Tell us about yourself?

My name is Khangweni Basil Mukwevho and I have been employed at Welmac since May 2021. I am a 33-year-old father of 2 sons and enjoy playing soccer and fishing. I live in Valdezia.

What do you do at Welmac?

I do scouting on the farm. Scouting is where we look for any pest that is harmful to our trees. We spray a selection of trees every Tuesday mornings, count the pest that is present and submit our report to the production manager. This influences the pest management and plant protection products that we use.  

What do you like / dislike on the farm?

Like: I like my farm to develop, so it will help many people outside who doesn’t have jobs. I like working with everyone and learning the different requirement of running a successful farm.

Dislike: I dislike the loss of anything in the farm.  

What would you improve if money was not an issue:

I would buy more tractors and implements.
Develop the farm further.