Living his farming dream among sticks and stones
'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.
From gardener to Farmer of the Year
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.
Hand in hand to ‘walk the commercial walk’
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.
Female Farmer of the Year -Hard work and sweat pay off
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.
Six-month land negotiations kick in
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
