Boschendal is the latest of our Make Travel Matter approved experiences meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, Responsible Consumption and Production, and Climate Action. 

Their mission: ‘To be a pioneering and ethical village, setting a global benchmark.’

‘Regeneration activities include free range farming practice which stimulates or feeds the microbes in the soil responsible for sequestrating carbon. For every one percent increase in organic carbon within the soil, the soil would store an extra water. The way we farm and manage our livestock and pastures ensure we are sequestrating carbon into the soil and ensuring our land is more drought resilient. We are currently undertaking two experimental projects to determine the most effective and truly organic way to achieve good soil health over a period.  Experiment 1 is a model farm which simulates free range farming on undisturbed land with no turnover and compares soil health measure over land left without free ranging and no turnover. Experiment 2 is the installation of earthworm farming directly in the soil beneath the trees in our plum orchards and comparing the soil health improvements over time against areas without the installation. We are also in the process of converting our olive and lemon orchards to fully organic produce.

Circular economy extends to include our retail and hospitality divisions where we seek to procure items which conserve resources (energy or water), have a limited negative impact on the environment (compostable packaging), support local industries (local waste management partners) etc. We run a community shop which resells our hospitality products which are no longer in use (curtains, aprons etc.) and we remake items for reuse within our own business (pillowcases into laundry bags). Our food waste from all our divisions is used in our composting facility to provide compost for the farm to use in the orchards. Wood chips which are created as part of our alien vegetation removal programme are used in mulch.

We conserve our natural resources with a focus on our alien clearing programme which to date has cleared more than five hundred hectares of alien trees and plants from the farm. The trees are either used for firewood or chipped for mulch as part of our circular economy commitment. Boschendal partnered with WWF for the Biodiversity Wine Initiative from 2005 – 2015. WWF restructured the program to work exclusively with industry leaders in conservation. Boschendal received WWF Champion Status in 2016 and currently retains WWF Champion status.

Throughout our practice we consider our community, the impacts on the community and our responsibility to manage these. Where possible we source resources and vendors from our immediate surrounding communities. We run a ECD school on Boschendal which has 63 learners between the ages of 5m-5yrs. We supply staff meals to all working staff members on the farm as food security becomes an increasing concern. We have a robust upskilling practice on the farm.’