A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

THE

GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY

OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

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I TRUST THAT THE

HARVEST DAY WILL

BECOME WORLD FAMOUS

ONE DAY LIKE THE

FLOWER FESTIVAL IN

HOLLAND, THE RHINE

FESTIVALS IN GERMANY

AND THE CARNIVAL IN

WINDHOEK.

– The former director of

SAMPI, Dr Willie Kotze, in

1967 after the very first

Harvest Day.

Video: Mr Crawford von Abo tells about the

origin of the Harvest Day.

NAMPO HARVEST DAY

Grain SA’s

What started in 1967 as an opportunity for maize producers

to compare mechanisation equipment on a non-competitive

basis in one place, in fact expanded to a diversified agricultural

trade show of an international proportions.

After 50 years Grain SA’s NAMPO Harvest Day is in 2016 still considered to be the

trendsetting showcase for agriculture in southern Africa, and it involves even more:

It is a grid reference of progress in agriculture; a technological score board and an

annual institution symbolising a feeling of solidarity among producers.

A former managing director of NAMPO and Grain SA – and a Harvest Day pioneer in

his own right – Mr Giel van Zyl, put the sentiments of the agricultural community into

words as follows: “The Harvest Day project’s biggest contribution, apart from the

fact that it is a shopping place for producers, is the solidarity that it creates among all

grain producers, because it is something that they built up, manned and managed.

In fact, there are very few things that create so much pride in grain producers like the

Harvest Day.” Van Zyl also reckons that the Harvest Day is an extension of the inputs

over many years of people in agriculture to promote the best interests of the grain

producers as part of the grain industry’s battle for recognition and survival.

INCEPTION AND ESTABLISHMENT

SAMPI, or rather the South African Maize Producers’ Institute, was established

in 1966 by maize producers who were dissatisfied with the fact that those who

handled the maize industry were not bona fide maize farmers, as well as with their

incorrect handling of the economic affairs of the industry. For SAMPI as a newly

established maize producers’ organisation, it was a challenge to try and fight the

government-supported maize specialist organisation (SAMSO) and organised

agriculture. However, a common pursuit of adequate and democratic representation

gave the young SAMPI the courage to boldly start the “big maize battle”.

The Harvest Day owes its inception to the initiative of three producers from

Bloemfontein, Messrs Moos Haddad, Hannes van Wyk and George Stegmann – all

of them members of the then SAMPI regional management from Bloemfontein.

Messrs Moos Haddad, Hannes van Wyk and George Stegmann were the founder members

of the SAMPI Harvest Day Project. The first Harvest Day was held in the Bloemfontein

district on 7 and 8 June 1967.

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