Karsten is known as one of SA’s biggest farmers and his business includes fruit production, livestock production as well as game farming. He also runs two branches in the Middle East and the UK.
Angus pioneered the Wagyu breeding industry in South Africa and is the only large scale Wagyu meat producer in the country. His Woodview Wagyu brand has been the champion of the Ultimate Beef Challenge two years in a row.
From left: Dr Dirk Strydom, Brian Angus, Alani Janecke (central branch chairperson), LJ Makoele, Piet Karsten, and Frikkie Lubbe. Photo courtesy of SA Agricultural Writers Central Branch.
Grain, dairy and livestock producer LJ Makoele from Reitz in the Free State is the Agricultural Writers’ central branch’s New Entrant to Commercial Farming of the Year. He farms on the 386ha farm Dagbreek.
The Free State University’s Dr Dirk Strydom is the Free State Agriculturalist of the Year. He specializes in Safex trading and has trained at least 800 farmers so far to use Safex.
The Northern Cape Agriculturalist of the Year, SAB’s Frikkie Lubbe, was the first person in the world to develop a scheduling programme exclusively for barley irrigation. This saw water savings of as much as 48% for barley producers and marked yield increases.