HX-SS-06
Diploma in Agri-Food Supply Systems
From the block to the container: packhouse operations, cold chain, traceability and the logistics that decide whether a crop makes money.
Overview
The crop is already grown. The money is made or lost in the next 72 hours.
Post-harvest is where the valley’s margins live: grading, cooling, packing, palletising, documenting and moving a perishable product to a port on time. This diploma trains the supervisor who owns that sequence and can prove, with data, what happened to a consignment.
You will work on our small packhouse and cold room line with two industry partners, learn cold-chain monitoring from the logger to the dashboard, and complete a traceability project that runs from a specific block to a specific container. The programme is full-time, with two extended placements in packhouses during the harvest season.
- Packhouse layout, grading and packing operations
- Cold chain design, monitoring and quality assurance
- Traceability systems, audit readiness and export compliance
- Inventory, demand planning and logistics costing
- Food safety standards and post-harvest physiology
Curriculum
How the programme runs
Year 1
Product and process
Post-harvest physiology · Packhouse operations · Food safety and hygiene · Logistics fundamentals · Field practice
Year 2
Systems and compliance
Cold chain management · Traceability and audit systems · Export compliance and documentation · Costing and planning · Industry placement (harvest season)
Entry requirements
Diploma · NQF 6
- National Senior Certificate with an APS of 22 or above
- Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy at level 3 (40%)
- Willingness to work harvest-season shifts
- No prior packhouse experience required
Where it leads
Diploma in Agri-Food Supply Systems
- Packhouse supervisor or quality controller
- Cold chain and logistics coordinator for an exporter
- Compliance and traceability officer
- Articulation into a related bachelor degree
Next step
Applications for 2027 are open
Applications close 30 September 2026 for the February 2027 intake. Late applications are considered while places remain.