Avocado and macadamia growers are having a good year. Avos are producing record yields and thanks to the Chinese market and weak rand, macadamia prices are at record levels. I bumped into a friend (let’s call him Tony) last week. He recently joined his father on the farm after a few years working in the macadamia business in Australia. Over a cup of coffee, I asked him how the season was going.
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“Great,” he said. “One of the best years we‘ve had for a long time.”
“Is your dad giving you the freedom to try out some of the stuff you learnt in Australia?”
Tony said that he and his father were getting on fine, but then added: “To tell the truth, I’m not sure I should have come back. I feel so unwelcome. Every time we turn to government for help, we struggle. I’m not sure I want to make a life where I’m made to feel like a pariah.
“In Australia you’re supported by the government and you’re proud to be a farmer. Here we seem to have to apologise for our existence. I’m demoralised and de-motivated by it all.” “Join the club,” I responded. “I reckon that’s a pretty typical feeling among all farmers right now. But it’s a fact of life, and we need to get past it and move on with building profitable and stable businesses.” Looking him directly in the eye, I asked: “What are you going to do about it?”
Winning hearts and minds
While organised agriculture is doing its best to show politicians that farmers are not monsters, intent on sucking the land dry and enslaving their workers, it’s unlikely that national politics will change for some time yet, if ever. Farmers need to support organised agriculture, but my advice to Tony was to leave national politics to Agri SA, TAU and other groups and focus his attention and energy at local level, where he has some chance of changing misconceptions and winning ‘hearts and minds’.
While the rules matter, it’s relationships that really drive success in gaining support from the local community and state officials. Consider the people filling the local positions that matter to you – municipal and department of water affairs managers, community leaders, the chief, roads department officials, the police, Eskom and Telkom representatives, and others. They all have their own worries and are unlikely to know much about farming and even less about running a business.
Influence their reaction
Chances are that every time you have dealings with one of these people, you have a problem you want solved. And often, you’re likely to feel the problem could have been averted altogether with better ‘service delivery’, and blame the very same official for the problem! What chance is there of a productive, friendly conversation under these circumstances?
The quality and nature of your relationship and your organisation’s relationship with these people is what matters. It is this that will largely influence their reaction to your call for help when you knock on their door. But – and here is the point – you will never build this relationship unless you spend time with the person concerned in an informal, non- adversorial atmosphere.
A tried and trusted method!
I was given this advice when I moved to Swaziland as a young farmer. It was back in the bad old days of apartheid, and I was worried about the reception I would get as a South African. How was I going to be received by the Swazis? What attitude would government officials have to me when I knocked on their door? My predecessor, who had had many years of local experience, had sage words for me.
“Peter,” he said, “don’t wait until you have a problem. Go and see these guys long before that happens. Invite them, their wives and kids to the farm for a weekend. “Get to know them, so that when you pick up the phone they’ll know who’s on the other end, and understand the problem. You’ll find them the most delightful people and you’ll make some friends for life.”
I took his advice and he was absolutely right. We spent many weekends walking, fishing and riding bikes on the farm with
the families of local leaders and government departments. We learnt as much about their personal worries and aspirations as they did about ours. We also learnt about the frustrations and problems they had in their jobs, and were able to share ours with them.
These weekends were never forgotten by us or by these people.You cannot leave the development of your relationships to chance. If you don’t already have one, set up a well-planned relationship management programme.
This article was originally published in the 26 September 2014 issue of Farmers Weekly.
