The Karsten Group is one of South Africa's leading agri-businesses, respected both locally and internationally for the excellence of its products, cutting edge innovation and integrity in its dealings with staff, service providers and customers. The group was founded by the Karsten Family Trust, which is the majority shareholder.
The success of producing grapes in an area that was not traditionally considered a table grape region in South Africa remains a highlight for Piet Karsten from the past three decades. 'We are proud that these grapes became so popular with our customers and that we could make such an important contribution to our region and job creation,' he said.
The headquarters of the Karsten Group are located at Roepersfontein, near Kanoneiland in South Africa's northern Cape region. The Group's Orange River business is based on 10 farms, stretching over 300 kilometres from Klein Pella in the West to Kanoneiland in the east.
The Karsten group is now South Africa's leading grape grower and has strategically invested in its marketing and distribution infrastructure, establishing its own South African and European marketing companies, New Vision and Karsten UK, as well as a logistical services company, Horizon Fruits.
The company has a strong logistics and international marketing structure with companies and offices in London, Egypt and Cape Town. In partnership with other South Africans, the Karsten Group has also established a marketing structure to promote and market its products in the Far and Middle East.
Apart from recent expansion of production in the Orange River into citrus, pomegranates and nuts, Karsten has also invested further south, in South Africa’s western Cape, in the production of apples, pears, plums and onions, as well as the latest cherry, raspberry and blueberry varieties to boost its produce basket. The group also has a joint venture with leading South African retailers to pack and market topfruit, citrus and onions.
In order to supply its customers with table grapes over an extended period, the Karsten Group has also established production and marketing partnerships in Egypt.
Mr Karsten attributes the success of his group to having a strong management team that shares in the successes and failures of the business.
Apart from investing in world class people, the Karsten Group is involved with two important initiatives in people empowerment, namely Keboes Farms and Mosplaas Citrus, both in the Orange River region, where workers hold a significant shareholding. The Karsten Group also pioneered the export of Fairtrade-branded grapes from South Africa.
All activities of the Karsten Group are based on the principles of applying Good Agricultural Practices and caring for the environment where technically advanced production practices exist in harmony with nature. Food safety and environmental policies conform to the highest international standards.
Piet du Plessis is general manager of Karsten Farms in the Orange River region and said that he was lucky to have grown with the business under the leadership of Piet Karsten.
'Along the way, we have bought and developed additional farms and we have introduced the same management model on every farm,' he said. 'Today, every farm is running as a separate business unit, with its own staff, management, budget and decision making authorities. This makes my task relatively easy to keep everything together.'
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