GILI FAFCo
Gili FaFCo introduced new varieties of vegetables crops with different attributes and quality. Since, early days Gil has been an advocate of Soil health. He introduced special soil amendments like the special potassium nitrate extracted from the Dead Sea in IsraelBringing soil feeding new technology from dead sea in Israel.
Simon moved to London in 1971 and worked in various positions for Marks & Spencer, eventually becoming personal assistant to Lord Sieff, the Chairman. In 1982, Simon returned to Woolworths South Africa where he architected and built the unique Woolies’ Food business.He learnt at Marks & Spencer that he will need assistance in producing the quality food in South Africa. He invited Gil Arbel to South Africa to start the food farming business. This is how Gili Farming and Food Corporation (Gili FaFCo) was born.
Gili introduced to South Africa – intensive and commercial vegetable farming with year-round production with the help of his irrigation solutions which also used water effectively. The first farms of Gili FaFCo were established near Johannesburg, South Africa.
The main objective of Gili FaFCo was to attract the attention of South African traditional farmers to intensive farming technologies, so that they could be part of the new food revolution in South Africa.
Young Simon Susman learning on the farm
GILI with his newly established corp
In 1980, Gili introduced Israeli tomatoes 1980 – ‘Bar 54’& ‘Daniela’ long shelf life tomatoes. Till date (for 40 years) they are still the leading products on the shelves of all major supermarkets.
GILI GREENWORLD
In 1996, Gili Greenwood was started in 300 ha for producing high quality vegetables and other produce for Pick ‘n Pay and other retailers.
Pick n Pay CEO getting a lesson on fresh produce and quality at the farm.
In 2004, before Christmas and in 2005, before Easter there were two major hailstorms in the area destroying the crop of 700,000 Lettuce heads, and hectares of Cucumber, eggplants, etc. That scale of destruction can before Christmas 2004 and the next production before Easter 2005 forced the farm to take into account the Climate change effects.
One day after the hailstorm
