A mixed bag of leafy varietals, the heads of luscious lettuce grown at Hartbeespoort's Hydrotec farm are literally good enough to eat.

One of South Africa’s lettuce-growing pioneers is the Hydrotec farm in the Hartbeespoort area, which has produced salad ingredients and herbs - the ones you and I buy at Woolworths - since 1992, employing up to 350 people.

The success of the  operation, says managing director Hendry Bouwer, owes itself in no small measure to the fact that the farm and packing house are situated on the same premises. "We are able to get produce to the factory  without breaking the cold chain.

The farm produces leafy vegetables and herbs, including different lettuce varieties such as lollo rosso and lollo biondo, endive, cos, batavia, oak and butter.

Following international trends and buying patterns, Hendry believes that there will be an influx of this varietal in South Africa: "These micro leaves have an excellent shelf life as the harvesting requires little cutting and handling so there is minimal bruising. And, of course, baby leaves are very desirable at the moment."

"Intensive colour is also important now," continues Hendry, referring to other global leafy-veg growing trends. "In the future, we’re going to see a lot more purple, red and neongreen. You’ll get spinach and lettuce leaves with red veins in them, for instance!"

One hectare of the farm now concentrates entirely on organic farming and even has its own wormery. The rest follows biofarming principles, a method of agriculture that aims to treat the farm as a self-sustaining living organism. Says farm manager Billy Lugar: "Biofarming – or farming for the future – is a totally new outlook, and definitely the way forward.

It means that we slow down rather than speed up by using healthier, more sustainable farming methods that are better for the environment and result in better-tasting produce."

As a principal salad supplier to Woolworths, Hendry believes that these evolutionary changes have been essential to the progression of the business, driven, as it is, by both client and consumer expectations: "Our goal has always been to improve and be the best."