Tread lightly

How the Clüver family farms in harmony with nature. By Anna Mouton.

De Rust in the Elgin Valley has been in the Clüver family since 1896. Their farming operations include approximately 150 hectares of apples and pears and 72 hectares of vineyards, which yield the acclaimed Paul Clüver Family Wines. Sustainability is a guiding principle for the four fourth-generation Clüvers who run the family business — their holistic approach is very much future-focused.

“As custodians of this very special piece of land, it’s our privilege and responsibility to care for it. For us, now, and for future generations, just as our forefathers did,” says production director Karin Clüver. “That’s why we don’t do things to tick a box, but because we strongly believe they’re the right things to do.”

Her brother, managing director Paul Clüver, agrees. “There are no shortcuts if you want to do the right thing over the long term,” he says. “You must do the right thing today.”

He points out that farming without any environmental impact is unavoidable. “The reality is that you destroy the natural environment when you establish an orchard or vineyard,” he says. “Unless we plan to go back to hunting and gathering, we need to ask how we can live in harmony with our environment and minimise that impact.”

The environmental footprint

According to Clüver, the key to sustainable farming is minimising the size of your environmental footprint. “We would like our environmental interactions to allow stable and flourishing biodiversity,” he says. “We have to tread lightly.”

Minimising the footprint requires knowing its size and makeup. De Rust uses tools such as the Confronting Climate Change carbon footprinting application to measure and manage its environmental impact. This helps them to identify areas where they can make a meaningful difference.

For example, nitrogen-based fertilisers rank high on the list of climate-changing environmental impacts of agriculture because the breakdown of these fertilisers in the soil leads to nitrous oxide release. Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas that traps more heat than carbon dioxide.

De Rust has a multipronged strategy to reduce its reliance on synthetic fertilisers. Firstly, they boost soil fertility and natural nitrogen availability by actively promoting soil health through applying compost and mulch and cultivating cover crops. This has several additional advantages, such as improving water infiltration and retention, preventing erosion and compaction, and attracting pollinators and other beneficial insects.

“Healthy soils not only improve your current production, but also your resilience,” says Clüver. “The focus on soil health has become a general trend in agriculture — it isn’t only an organic trend.”

Given that their crops still need some synthetic fertiliser, De Rust optimises tree nutrition through precision agriculture. They utilise technologies such as drone imaging and variable-rate spreaders to tailor fertiliser applications to plant needs within orchards and vineyards.

Carbon miscalculations

“When people talk about carbon neutrality, they want to limit their area of responsibility for their footprint,” says Clüver. “They don’t want to be responsible for anything that happens outside their borders.”

He makes his point with the example of electric cars. They may not emit carbon while on the road, but they still rely heavily on fossil-fuel-generated energy to charge their batteries, not to mention the environmental devastation caused by the lithium mining that those batteries require.

“If we really care about the carbon footprint of a product, we must look at the entire value chain,” says Clüver. He is concerned that well-intentioned but ill-informed consumer choices lead buyers to discriminate against South African wines and fruit.

European and British consumers incorrectly assume that a product imported from South Africa will have a much larger carbon footprint than one originating from Europe. However, shipping a bottle of wine from Cape Town to London emits about 20% less carbon than transporting that same bottle by road from Burgundy.

The same would hold true of an apple grown in South Tyrol. “Of course, the calculation would be different if that apple is going from South Tyrol to Germany,” admits Clüver. “But not if the apple has to be stored for eight months — the impact of shipping is much lower than that of storage.”

To reduce your footprint, whether of carbon or any other environmental factor, you have to know what will move the needle and how to measure your performance in those areas.

“You mustn’t look at your carbon footprint per hectare. You must calculate it per kilogram of fruit delivered,” says Clüver. “Being sustainable means increasing your yields per hectare with reduced inputs per kilogram of fruit.”

Innovation and technology

“You achieve sustainability through innovation and technology,” says Clüver. “You have to be more efficient in using fuel, electricity, water, and fertiliser.”

According to 2025 Confronting Climate Change benchmarking data, electricity is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in pome-fruit production, accounting for about half of all farm emissions. Fuel is second, at about a quarter, followed by fertiliser at 20%. Agrochemicals only generate about 5% of emissions.

Clüver notes that, ironically, using organic or softer agrochemicals often increases total emissions, as these treatments are generally less effective, requiring more frequent spray applications and therefore more fuel.

One of the fuel-saving technologies employed by De Rust is a tracking system for all its tractors. The software monitors metrics such as speed and excessive braking and sends alerts for infractions. It also shows whether operators have missed rows when spraying.

“Our diesel consumption dropped by 20% as a result of this system,” says Clüver. “It pays for itself.”

Water-use efficiency is another area for continuous improvement. Water is a scarce resource in itself, and applying it to orchards consumes energy. Although much of De Rust’s irrigation is gravity-fed, they still pump water between dams.

Besides optimising irrigation scheduling with tools such as soil-moisture probes and infrared drone imaging, De Rust is increasingly netting its orchards.

“I think nets are of cardinal importance for two reasons,” says Clüver. “One is that we know they save water, and we have to improve our water use per kilogram of fruit produced. The other advantages of nets are that they reduce the risks of sunburn and hail damage, improve your pack-outs, and therefore your waste drops.”

These examples demonstrate how environmental and financial sustainability often go hand in hand. Clüver argues that continuous improvement of production practices allows growers to do more with less — to keep increasing yields and quality despite limited resources.

“This has already been happening in the industry. Twenty years ago, the average yields for apples were 30–35 tonnes per hectare. Today, the expectation is 80 tonnes per hectare, which is huge,” says Clüver.

“Our own farm has gone from an average of 35 tonnes per hectare in 2000 to 84 tonnes per hectare in 2025. That figure includes young orchards.”

Collective sustainability

Considering their deep roots at De Rust, it’s not surprising that the Clüvers have a vision of sustainability that extends beyond their orchards and vineyards. They were the first landowners in the Western Cape to enter a stewardship agreement with Cape Nature, under which more than 1 000 hectares of their property is allocated to conservation in perpetuity.

This land is part of the Kogelberg Biosphere and includes critically endangered plant communities. The Clüvers continually engage in alien clearing and the rehabilitation of natural vegetation. Alien clearing supports two small local entrepreneurs who sell firewood and poles.

“The environment isn’t the only thing that’s important to us,” says Clüver. “We have a social responsibility as a corporate citizen. We could say, this isn’t our responsibility, but if everyone says that, how do we create a better world to live in?”

The South African deciduous-fruit industry has a long history of contributing to local communities, for example, by providing clinics and supporting schools. One such initiative is the De Rust Futura Academy, founded in 1957 by Clüver’s grandmother, Gertrude.

She grew up on a mission station, obtained a degree in education, and taught teachers at the then Stellenbosch Technical Institute. Once she moved to De Rust, she established a farm school and persuaded neighbouring farms to become involved.

Today, the school accommodates around 1 300 learners from preschool to Grade 12. There are no school fees, and pupils receive two daily meals.

“Our grandmother cared deeply for the environment, the people, and the farm,” says Karin Clüver. “Her son continued the tradition, and so do we, her grandchildren. Caring is a family value ingrained in our DNA.”

Paul Clüver concurs. “Hopefully, each of us can make a small contribution to a better society because then we also collectively take better care of our environment. The social and environmental sides of sustainability are intertwined.”