In just a few years apples, pears, peaches and apricots will compete with cannabis for the crown of Montagu’s most lucrative export.
This is because the exact climate that has made this region famous for its fruit, is what marijuana growers consider to be the most favourable for their plants.
And while there has already been a significant number of jobs created by the no less than four legal growing facilities (farms) that have been established in this region over the last two years, the imminent green tourism rush will soon confirm the town’s status as the cannabis capital of Southern Africa.
These are very bold claims, but they come from a man who has been cultivating the miracle plant for 30-years.
He had a hand in 90% of growing licences that the government issued in South Africa to date. He helped set up a multi-million dollar growing facility in Lesotho and he just so happened to be the man who was at the famous Arjan Roskam’s side when he became one of the world’s very first bud-billionaires.
He is a close friend of Italy’s Franco Loja (another legend) and in the 90s he worked alongside the Jack Herer during the years he spent as a cultivator in Humboldt County California.
You might see him in Montagu Spar from time to time, he is very involved in community upliftment and to many he is only known as White Lion – at home he is Cornel van der Watt.
Meet Montagu’s Medicine Man
From early days when he used his glassblowing skills as a front for his cannabis exploits, to becoming one of the most respected cannabis cultivators on the planet, Van der Watt has lived a very colourful life.
It was also his glassblowing exploits that contributed to the throat cancer he developed later in life.
He would later testify that it just happened to be extracts from the plant he grows to perfection that cured his disease.
“I heard this (the possibility of a cure for his cancer) on a radio station at a time when the research on the medicinal values of cannabis was not that well known.”
After watching so many of his friends, and many corporates, cash-in from cannabis investments, Van der Watt in 2020 hand picked Montagu as the place where he will build his empire.
“Montagu is going to become a big role-player in the growing cannabis industry and this is mainly because of the the climate,” he explained.
“Legal cannabis sales are forecast to rise to a whopping $55.9 billion globally in 2026 from $21.3 billion in 2020, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of over 17%, or $6 billion a year.” Forbes
“It gets very cold in winter and very hot in summer and you need ample sunlight for the best results – and that is where Montagu ticks all the boxes.”
Very conveniently the town has one of the cannabis laboratories that tests cannabinoids and terpenes and it is only a matter of time (legislation pending) before green tourism takes off behind Cogmann’s Kloof.
“I can guarantee dispensaries and coffee shops will start mushrooming up all over the show,” said van der Watt.
In the meantime, his focus is basic skills development in a very labour intensive industry.
Van der Watt has always tried his best to place community upliftment at the core of his business and although he is about to claim his fair share of the international market, he believes at his core that he can once and for all show big Pharma and big Tobacco that there is a more holistic way of ensuring that profits make it back into the bellies of the people on who’s land the gold was mined on in the first place.
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