Grain producer winners shaping the future

November 2016

RUTH SCHULTZ, SA Graan/Grain contributor and HELENUS KRUGER, photos

On 14 October the grain industry gave recognition to and joined in the celebrations of the grain producer winners at a prestigious event held at The Theatre on Track in Midrand, Gauteng.

Mr Jozua du Plessis from Delmas, who received the Grain SA/ Syngenta Grain Producer of the Year award, is one of the smart producers who can adapt, grow and counter agricultural challenges. The other two finalists in this category were Messrs Dissie Kruger from Orania and Piet and Johan Willemse from Jireh Boerdery in the Riversdal area.

‘Through 20 years of conservation farming the Willemse twins, Piet and Johan, have increased their yields and ensured a sustainable base for growth on many levels. Dissie and Jozua both had to steer their businesses through the drought of 1982 – producers who have learnt to leave nothing to chance,’ Mr Antonie Delport (managing director: Syngenta SA) mentioned during his speech.

He said that like these producers we all have the ability to shape the future. ‘Soothing our minds with “out of the box thinking”, is not good enough anymore. Thinking is passive. Let us move to “acting outside the box” through partnerships, sustainable strategic implementation, experimenting and measurement,’ Delport said.

But what prevents us from going over to action? ‘In my view the predominant obstacle with implementation is not telling our agricultural story often enough and in the right way.’ He provided three questions that first needed to be answered: ‘What do we do?; Why we do what we do?; and How do we do what we do? This story then needs to be told in a persuasive way in an attempt to mobilise the right influences to support positive sustainable change to all food producers in South Africa,’ he explained.

New Era, Smallholder and Subsistence winners – múst read stories

Messrs Frans Mokoena (Grain SA/Absa/John Deere Financial New Era Commercial Farmer of the Year), Sizwe Ngwenya (Grain SA/Syngenta Small holder Farmer of the Year) and Mzwayi Zuma (Grain SA/ Absa Subsistence Farmer of the Year) also had heart-warming stories to tell during a DVD presentation at the awards ceremony.

‘You will be inspired by the stories of these gentlemen – where they come from and what they have achieved (read their stories on page 18, 22 and 23). You will be even more inspired by where these gentlemen will be in a few years from now – when we shall be celebrating these gentlemen’s commercial success stories,’ Mr Caleb Varner (manager: Retail Finance Sub-Sahara Africa, John Deere Financial) said just before the DVD presentation.

Absa is proud to sponsor the New Era Commercial Farmer of the Year award in partnership with Grain SA and John Deere Financial. ‘We have experienced the successes, transformation and harvest of a fruitful partnership,’ Mr Cobus Wells (head: Absa Agri- Business Africa) said.

Wells then emphasised the importance of transformation in the agricultural sector. ‘Whilst travelling in Africa and in South Africa I have seen the successes of commercial producers and offtakers taking subsistence and small scale farmers under their wings – and what it did not only for the individuals’ wealth, but also to the immediate communities as it opened doors for new small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs),’ he said. During his travels, he also noticed that farmers across Africa all share common characteristics of passion, energy, endurance and the drive to grow and prosper.

Publication: November 2016

Section: Grain SA