Miami Canners, situated in the farmlands along the Great Letaba River in the Limpopo Province of the Republic of South Africa, received its name when General Jan Smuts commissioned foreign officials to survey the Letaba Valley. Presumably some of these officials were from America and chose names that were familiar to them. In the early seventies the late Jan Welthagen established himself in the predominantly fruit farming community, with a vision to capture more from the lands than just fruit. Jan Welthagen (snr) recognized the potential of a canning factory; offering much needed employment opportunities to the entire district. By 1983 Miami Canners was in production and Miami farm had become the hub of the district’s farming community. Its success led to the expansion of both the product variety grown on the farm and the building of a new factory in 1990 with modern equipment, up to the date technology and research facilities. The business today is still owned and managed by the family i.e. Mark and Yolande Pieterse.
