Tarlton Beetroot Business Plan — ESG and Development Impact

Water stewardship, soil practice, employment creation and the development impact of the operation.

Section 20 of 37

ESG and Development Impact

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A credible development case on employment and land productivity; a modest one on environment; and governance that is thin until Series A.

Table 30 ESG assessment against development finance criteria

Pillar

Position

Evidence and honest limitation

Employment

34 permanent and up to 55 seasonal positions at Year 5, from 3.5 permanent at inception

Job creation is real and measurable, but the majority of positions are entry-level field and packhouse roles at or moderately above the sectoral minimum. The plan does not claim to create high-skill employment at scale.

Water

Drip irrigation with fertigation throughout; no overhead sprinkler

Application efficiency of roughly 90 per cent against 65 to 75 per cent for overhead systems. The operation nonetheless consumes 520,000 to 580,000 cubic metres a year in a stressed catchment, which is a genuine environmental cost, not a benefit.

Energy and carbon

100 kWp solar from month 31 displacing daytime pumping load

Displaces an estimated 160 to 190 MWh annually. Meaningful at operation scale; immaterial at national scale. Presented as cost control with a co-benefit.

Soil

Mandatory one-in-three rotation with sweetcorn, cabbage, butternut and green beans

Rotation is driven by disease management, not by an environmental commitment. The soil health benefit is real and incidental.

Food system

2,215 tonnes of a nutrient-dense vegetable into a metropolitan market at Year 5

Domestic food supply contribution is genuine. The Company does not claim to increase national supply, since output largely substitutes for other domestic growers.

Governance

Four-person board with an independent chairperson from Series A; reserved matters; monthly reporting

Governance before month 27 is materially thinner than a development finance institution would normally require. This is disclosed rather than dressed up.

Transformation

Not yet structured

No BBBEE ownership structure is proposed in this plan. Investors for whom this is a threshold requirement should treat it as an open item to be negotiated at Series A, not as something already addressed.

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