Beetroot Farming Business Plan South Africa

Investor-grade staged beetroot business plan: R4.60m seed then R30.94m Series A, reaching 2,215 tonnes and R25.80m revenue by Year 5.

Tarlton Beetroot Company — harvested beetroot of the kind washed and graded for fresh market supply

Business Plan & Investment Proposal · South Africa

Beetroot Farming Business Plan — South Africa

Tarlton Beetroot Farming Company (Pty) Ltd · The First Tranche Buys Evidence, Not Acreage.

Staged irrigated beetroot production on the Tarlton plateau — open-field cultivation
with washing, grading and cold chain, building from 75 tonnes in Year 1 to 2 215 tonnes by
Year 5 across fresh market, retail and processing channels. Funded in two tranches: R4.60 million of seed
to prove the agronomy and the market, then R30.94 million of Series A released against that record.

R4.60mSeed tranche

R30.94mSeries A, gated

R25.80mYear 5 revenue

22%Year 5 EBITDA margin

This plan begins by conceding something most do not: as a single request it would
be turned down. A R35 million tranche for a first-time grower with no production record does not clear a credit
committee, and the document says so in those terms. Its answer is to split the ask — R4.60 million to
establish whether the agronomy works and whether the crop sells, then R30.94 million underwritten against that
record rather than against assertion. The seed investor, as the plan puts it, is buying information. The operating
story underneath is that placement beats price: net realisation climbs from R5.70 to R8.76 a kilogram on channel mix
rather than on the beetroot market, while tonnage grows from 75 to 2,215. And the plan gives water, energy and land
a section of their own as three binding constraints, each capping the operation independently of demand — which
is a more useful disclosure than a risk-register line.

Why the ask is split

What a single tranche would run into, and what staging does about it.

R35m at onceWould not be fundedA single-tranche request from a first-time grower with no production record does not clear a credit committee, and the plan says so in its own words.

so instead

R4.60m, then R30.94mEvidence before scaleThe first tranche answers the agronomic and commercial questions. The second is underwritten against a record rather than an assertion.

Key measures

Six measures that determine whether this operation and its funding stand up.

R4.60mSeed trancheBuys answers to the agronomic and commercial questions — not acreage. The plan is explicit that the seed investor is buying information.

R30.94mSeries A, gated on evidenceReleased only once the first tranche has produced a record. A single R35m request from a first-time grower would not clear a credit committee.

R5.70 → R8.76Net realisation per kilogramRising with channel mix, not with market price. Where the crop is sold matters more than what beetroot fetches.

2 215 tHarvested at Year 5From 75 tonnes in Year 1, with gross margin climbing from 15% to 47% as scale absorbs the fixed cost base.

Water, energy, landThe three binding constraintsGiven their own section. Each caps the operation independently of demand, and none can be solved with capital alone.

Year 5First profit after taxThree years of EBITDA deficits first, with R27.87m of capital concentrated in Year 3 before the ramp.

Revenue and earnings

Revenue and EBITDA on the base case. Net realisation and yield per hectare are the two
assumptions that matter most, and both are stressed in Section 29.

Revenue build — tonnes harvested and net realisation

Year 1R0.36m · 75 t · R5.70/kg
Year 2R1.63m · 293 t · R6.40
Year 3R4.79m · 632 t · R7.28
Year 4R18.21m · 1 758 t · R8.29
Year 5R25.80m · 2 215 t · R8.76

Two things compound. Tonnage rises from 75 to 2,215 as land comes into production, and net realisation climbs from R5.70 to R8.76 a kilogram as the channel mix improves.

EBITDA and margin, Year 4 onward

Year 4R2.81m · 15%
Year 5R5.79m · 22%

Years 1 to 3 run EBITDA deficits of R1.47m, R1.62m and R2.18m, and profit after tax turns positive only in Year 5. Gross margin climbs from 15% to 47% as scale absorbs fixed cost.

How to read this plan

Staging is the whole structure

The plan states plainly that R35 million in one tranche would not clear a credit committee for a first-time grower. Splitting it lets R4.60m buy evidence and R30.94m be underwritten against that evidence.

The seed investor is buying information

Not acreage, not equipment. The first tranche exists to answer whether the agronomy works and whether the crop sells — which is an unusually honest description of what early capital actually funds.

Where it sells matters more than what it fetches

Net realisation rises from R5.70 to R8.76 a kilogram on channel mix rather than market price. Beetroot is a commodity; the routing to buyer is not.

Water, energy and land cap the plan

Three constraints, given their own section rather than buried in the risk register. Each limits the operation independently of demand, and capital alone resolves none of them.

Three loss years and a Year 3 capital spike

EBITDA deficits of R1.47m, R1.62m and R2.18m, with R27.87m of capital landing in Year 3, before profit after tax turns in Year 5.

Selected exhibits

Phase 3 route comparison: capital, EBITDA and return.

Monthly net cash position by scenario, showing the funding gap in each.

Tornado analysis: impact of a plus or minus 15 per cent move in each variable on Year 5 EBITDA and project NPV.

Year 5 EBITDA across combinations of price and yield.

Thirty-four sections and three appendices.

Appendices

Strictly confidential. This document is delivered in confidence to the named
recipient and may not be reproduced or circulated, in whole or in part, without prior written consent.