Meeting Dr. Rogan Pillay, an otorhinolaryngologist specializing in head and neck oncology surgery, owner, and farmer at Roganic Growers, leaves you with an undoubtful impression that this is a man deeply steeped in science and research. But, above all, Dr. Pillay is highly focused on growing food that will not only enhance health but will also be at the forefront of proven technology to ensure the highest sustainable quality. To him, farming is not only a passion but also the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition to amalgamate science, technology, and best practice to produce the best food for humans to underpin good health and longevity.
History of Roganic Growers
“We have been on the farm since 1996 and started farming in 1999. We paid a lot of school fees trying various technologies, which ended up in me visiting international destinations and researching how they did undercover farming, as I was very interested in greenhouse horticulture farming. In addition, I was very interested in climate control systems as we are situated on the highveld and did not want any restrictions on our production activities.
In 2004, we went professional with a fully climate-controlled greenhouse. At that time, we were the only facility on the continent with a carbon dioxide condensation facility,” says Dr Pillay. He knows it’s an expensive route, but as a perfectionist, he wanted to minimise carbon emissions while achieving good climate control in the greenhouses. It served them well as it led Roganic Growers to export peppers, under contract, to the Netherlands, and “we all know how high their standards are as they are known as the pepper barons,” said Dr. Pillay.
“Rijk Zwaan came into our production programs quite early as we primarily focused on niche markets because of our size. We are quite small in comparison to the large growers and stay away from low-value items. So instead, we focused on specialty peppers; that’s what we are known for,” said Dr Pillay. “We grew the Rijk Zwaan Kappy varieties for many seasons, and we did exceptionally well with that.”
Roganic Growers Farming Produce
Currently, Roganic Growers, although a mixed farm; growing elephant garlic and turmeric and other produce on open fields, exclusively grows Rijk Zwaan Snacking Peppers (Yellow Zuppa RZ F1, Red Tatin RZ F1, and Orange Tarta RZ F1) and Sweet Palermo® Peppers undercover in full climate control conditions in a 5000m2 Greenhouse. The Rijk Zwaan Snacking peppers and Sweet Palermo Peppers are grown exclusively for Woolworths.
Although their quality control standards are very high, 85% yield is accepted, with the other 15% delivered to the secondary market. The increased production standards of Roganic in their 5-star production greenhouses ensure a very high-quality approval with wastage at around 2%. Because of their state-of-the-art, fully automated climate control system, they have attracted the admiration of and recognition by their peers as “Winter Producers.”
Roganic Growers is Global Gap and Farming for the Future certified. Although they are not heavily invested in mechanical handling in their packing facility, they passed the Woolworths inspections and audits easily.
Being very aware of their impact on the environment, Roganic uses their carbon dioxide condensation facility on their gas operated boiler to reduce emissions and feed the carbon dioxide into the greenhouse production facility, increasing yield by up to 30% per m2. In addition, because there is no recycling of Rockwool in SA, Roganic changed to coir imported from Sri Lanka to limit their impact on the environment. Furthermore, all their waste is composted and used on the farm thereby further reducing their impact on the environment.
50% of the electricity required by Roganic comes from their solar installation, with plans to increase this in the near future. At the same time, UPS systems support the software programs of the automated climate control systems during electricity outages. Rain is harvested from the roofs of the greenhouses at a rate of 1L per 1mm of rain, running into a 44 000m3 holding facility. From there, the water is treated in different treatment stations before being introduced into the greenhouses.
Driving away from Roganic Growers and Dr. Pillay, one cannot help thinking: What a perfect match. A man steeped in science and constantly engaged in intensive research. His enthusiasm and dedication to helping mankind and saving lives are matched with a 5-star production facility. Producing healthy food stacked full of vitamin C and anti-oxidants for people striving to live healthy. No wonder Dr. Pillay chose his business partners very carefully. Partners are setting high standards on quality, sustainability, and yield above just financial gain. (MO)