Empowerment

'You're either in, or you're out!' Glenneis Erasmus reports on the Hex River Valley farmers and ­farmworkers who are 'in' and making transformation work.

It's big, it's flat, it's a land of extremes - including blistering droughts. But while farming remains a ­fundamental part of Australian life, it has taken a heavy toll on the enviroment. Chris and Mathilde Stuart take a tour of ­Australia and discovered problems that make South African farmers' woes seem almost manageable.

'Farming is not for sissies', says emerging ­commercial farmer André Thops of Olyfkloof farm in the Hex River Valley. He sites the lack of cash flow and access to funds as the key restraining factors experienced by ­emerging farmers. To counter these factors he diversifies his wine grape, olive and broiler chicken operations with cash crops.

Ponki Makanita has recently been crowned as Breedplan Emerging Farmer of the Year in Bloemfontein. Wayne Southwood reports on his remarkable journey from gardener and lorry driver to successful top farmer.

Beneficiaries of Rietspruit farm in Heidelberg, Gauteng, have formed partnerships with the former farm owners who are providing hands-on training and mentorship support programmes to help develop the emerging producers into fully fledged agricultural producers.

Linda Nghatsane is someone who sees ­opportunity in hard work. Sound financial ­planning, good farming practices and a lot of sweat and tears have finally paid off for this former nurse. Chris Louw visited her on her small farm near Nelspruit in Mpumalanga.

The expropriation orders served on Gauteng farmer OJ Botha and the ­Lutheran Church this month mark the start of ­applying the government's ­controversial policy of negotiating no longer than six months with owners of land under claim