Ward 2 Development Forum

Valley of Grace Agri-Heritage Co-operative

Properties3
descriptionA proposed primary co-operative of valley growers. Members would share one brand, a farm shop, and visitor experiences built on farming and heritage, and would work with government through the Overberg district plan. Not yet agreed. To be tabled in November 2026.
tagstheme/youth, theme/tourism, theme/heritage, theme/trancraa, priority/agriculture-food-sovereignty, priority/business-procurement, priority/tourism-development, priority/education-skills, lang/en
aliasesAgri-Heritage Co-operative, Valley Growers' Co-operative

9 min read

This idea is not yet agreed. It comes from a group of growers in Genadendal [MS]. The other growers, organisations, and government offices it mentions have not been asked about it yet. It will be tabled at the Forum’s November 2026 meeting. Please do not share this page publicly yet.

What the letters in square brackets mean

Facts on this page are followed by a tag that shows where they come from.

  • [IC] Independently Corroborated. Confirmed by at least two sources that do not depend on each other, or by an official record.
  • [MS] Mission-Sourced. Comes from the people putting this idea forward, in their own documents or statements. It has not been checked against other sources.
  • [TBV] To Be Verified. Seems likely, but nobody has confirmed it yet.

Statements without a tag are proposals. They describe what the co-operative could become.

The goal

Growers in the valley own one business together, so that more of the money made from valley food and farm visits goes to the people who grow the food.

Why the valley needs it

  • At the Forum’s first meeting, residents said many community gardens are lying fallow [MS]. They asked for mentorship between commercial and emerging farmers, and for farming linked to tourism [MS].
  • The Forum wants to build local supply chains so that more money is spent and kept in the ward [MS].
  • Farming, forestry, and fishing together make up the third-largest part of Theewaterskloof’s economy [IC]. Across the Overberg, the district’s economic strategy counts about 17,700 jobs lost in these sectors between 1996 and 2017 [IC].
  • The same strategy points to farm tourism and food processing as ways to make the district’s economy stronger [IC].
  • Several projects already grow food in the valley, including Valley Food Gardens and Pigs to Plants [MS].

The idea

A group of growers in the valley would form a primary co-operative. Each member keeps their own farm or garden. The co-operative does the things that are hard for one small grower to do alone.

Farming would be the base. Everything else the co-operative does would be built on what its members grow:

ActivityWhat the co-operative would do
GrowingPlan planting across member farms so there is produce all year. Buy seed, compost, and tools in bulk.
ProcessingTurn surplus fruit and vegetables into jams, dried goods, and other products that keep.
SellingRun one farm shop under a shared name, and supply local restaurants, guesthouses, and markets.
VisitorsOffer farm visits, heritage walks, and meals made from members’ produce.
LearningTrain members and young people in growing, food handling, guiding, and running a small business.

Each activity would feed the next. Member farms would supply the kitchen and the shop. Visitors who come for a walk would buy produce before they leave. Income from sales and visits would go back to the members and into the co-operative’s growth.

What a primary co-operative is

  • A co-operative is a business owned and run by its members. South Africa’s Co-operatives Act of 2005, amended in 2013, sets out how co-operatives are formed and run [IC].
  • A primary co-operative is the first level. It can be formed by at least five people, by two organisations, or by any mix of five [IC].
  • Two or more primary co-operatives can join to form a secondary co-operative, and secondary co-operatives can form a tertiary one [IC]. A valley co-operative could later join with growers’ co-operatives elsewhere in the Overberg in this way.
  • Co-operatives register with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) [IC].
  • CIPC’s model constitution for an agricultural primary co-operative gives each member one vote [IC]. Its listed purposes include marketing and processing members’ produce and buying farming supplies [IC]. Part of any surplus must go into a reserve that is never shared out. The annual general meeting decides what happens to the rest, following the constitution [IC].

How it fits government’s district planning

The national Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) leads the District Development Model, introduced in 2019 [IC]. Under it, national, provincial, and local government plan and budget together for each of the country’s 44 districts and 8 metros, through a single plan for each district, called the One Plan [IC]. One of its aims is local economic development through local buying and job creation that supports local businesses [IC].

In the Western Cape, this joint planning runs through the provincial Joint District and Metro Approach (JDMA), endorsed by the Premier’s Coordinating Forum in June 2019 [IC]. Each of the province’s five districts has an interface team of officials from different departments, led by the provincial Department of Local Government [IC]. Garden Route District, for example, calls its plan the “JDMA Implementation Plan (One Plan)” [IC]. Theewaterskloof is one of the municipalities in the Overberg District [IC].

In these terms, the co-operative would be a primary co-operative: the ground level of farm production, owned by the people who do the farming. It would fit the district model in these ways:

  • Farm production as the base. The co-operative’s growing would supply the processing, selling, and visitor work built on top of it. This links farming with the farm tourism and food processing that the Overberg’s economic strategy points to.
  • One partner for government. Government offices that support farming, training, and tourism would have one registered co-operative to work with. Support could reach many small growers through it.
  • Local buying. The co-operative would be a local supplier of fresh food for guesthouses, restaurants, and public buyers in the ward. This matches the model’s aim of local buying and local jobs.
  • A route into the district plan. The Forum already works with Theewaterskloof Municipality’s Economic Development office [MS]. Through that office, the co-operative could be put forward for inclusion in the Overberg’s district planning.
  • Room to grow. Growers’ co-operatives in other villages could join with it later in a secondary co-operative, giving the district a larger local supplier.

Who would benefit

  • Small-scale and emerging growers, through shared buying, selling, and training.
  • Young people, through training and jobs in growing, cooking, guiding, and selling.
  • Valley households, who could buy fresh local food closer to home.
  • Guesthouses, restaurants, and other local businesses, through a steady local supplier.

Who would pay

Nothing has been costed yet [MS]. Money could come from:

  • members’ joining fees and contributions
  • sales of produce, products, meals, and visits
  • grants and support programmes for co-operatives and small farmers (which ones apply, and whether the co-operative would qualify, still has to be checked)
  • partnerships with local businesses

Who would decide

The members would own the co-operative, with one vote each. They would elect a board at the annual general meeting, and the board would report back to them.

Some co-operatives set up a separate company for trading, or a non-profit for training, so that grant money and business income are kept apart. Whether this co-operative would need either is still open.

How it fits the Forum’s goal

The Forum’s long-term goal names co-operatives as one of the tools for building a BioConomy in the valley [MS]. This idea sits in the economic sphere, where the guiding value is cooperation: growers working together to make a living.

It also touches the other two spheres. Any use of land on the mission settlements would go through the Transformasie Komitee first, so that the idea respects the land process (civic). Heritage walks would share the valley’s history on terms the community sets (cultural).

It serves four of the Forum’s priorities: Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Business Development and Local Procurement, Tourism Development, and Education and Skills.

What is still open

  • Who else would join the growers in Genadendal, and from which villages.
  • Which land members would farm, and on what terms. The land of Genadendal, Bereaville, Voorstekraal, Boschmanskloof, and Madiba Park is part of the unresolved TRANCRAA process [MS]. The Genadendal Transformasie Komitee has not been asked for its view.
  • Where members’ water would come from.
  • Whether the Overberg’s district plan is in place, and what it says about farming.
  • Which government support programmes would apply to a co-operative like this.
  • Whether the co-operative would also need a trading company or a non-profit.
  • How it would work alongside existing food projects and markets, such as Valley Food Gardens and Greyton Village Market, so that it adds to their work.
  • What it would cost.

What happens next

  1. The growers in Genadendal behind the idea review this page and decide how they want the idea described.
  2. The Transformasie Komitee is asked for its view on any use of land on the mission settlements.
  3. Other growers and existing food projects in the valley are asked whether they want to take part.
  4. The idea is tabled at the Forum’s November 2026 meeting.
  5. The municipality’s Economic Development office is asked how the idea could be put forward for the district’s planning.
  6. A working group with at least five founding members drafts a constitution and a business plan.

Have your say

Contact the moderators via How to Submit, or come to the November 2026 meeting.

References

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