Indigenous first
Native species are not decoration on the edge of a farm. They are the reference for how a plant should behave in this soil, in this heat, on this rainfall.
About us
We grow the way
We grow the way
the Cape already does.
NextGen Plants (Pty) Ltd farms at Donderboskop in Botrivier, in the heart of the Overberg. We work across four pillars — fresh produce, vanilla, an indigenous nursery and Palmiet restoration — with a single operating principle: study what already thrives here, then farm accordingly.
Our story
Agriscience, not agriculture-as-usual.
The Overberg is good country, but it is not easy country. Rainfall is less reliable than it was, input costs climb faster than prices, and the margin for a bad decision keeps narrowing.
NextGen Plants was formed on the view that the answer is not more inputs but better information. We invest in trials, propagation science and controlled-environment growing before we invest in scale — so that when a crop goes into the ground at volume, it has already been proven under Cape conditions.
That approach is why a crop like vanilla — conventionally written off as unsuited to this climate — is now one of our four pillars, and why the vanilla flower stands in for the X in our name.
See the projectsThree principles we don't trade away.
Water as the constraint
Every structure, schedule and cultivar choice starts from a water budget. If a plan only works in a wet year, it is not a plan.
Honest provenance
We would rather say where something came from than make a claim we cannot evidence. Traceability is a record, not a marketing line.
Proudly in association with
Good work is rarely done alone.
Our Palmiet restoration project is being developed with the Overstrand Municipality's Environmental Management Section, with provenance and permitting alongside CapeNature, the Western Cape's conservation authority. Our produce reaches formal retail through Freshmark and SPAR Overberg. Our corporate and financial administration is handled in association with the iFSP group.
The people behind the plants.
A small team of growers, scientists and operators — most of whom you will find in a tunnel or a packhouse rather than behind a desk.
Jan van Staden
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Braam Smit
Co-Founder & Operations Director
Dr Rykie van der Westhuizen
Technical Director & Chief Scientific Officer
Work with us
Contact us
Tell us what you're trying to grow.
Supply enquiries, research collaborations and restoration projects all start the same way — with a conversation.