FAST FACTS
Oja Farms process their soya beans into snack bars and dry beans.
Market uptake has been slow due to the negative view of soya beans.
The Cloetes want soya beans to be marketed in the bean category and not as a meat replacement.
Soya mince, hamburger patties and sausages – this is where it all went wrong for soya beans for human consumption in the 1960s. Since then, mention of the ingredient on product labels has quickly seen hands withdrawn from products on supermarket shelves and in fridges as memories of this meat replacement have set an unsavoury precedent.
The negative perception of soya beans is the biggest hurdle the Cloete family of Oja Farms have faced in gaining market traction with their novel soya bean-based products.
Since 2017, Oja Farms has produced a range of products including dry beans, snack bars and beans covered in various coatings like chocolate and yoghurt.
Brothers Martin and Jannie are the fourth generation on the farm, which has seen its land split
