SA’s best grain farmers

Schalk Stapelberg is Grain SA’s top grain farmer. He Farms on 2 820ha in Piet Retief, Mpumalanga and has 1 000ha planted to maize and soya as well as pastures on which he has 605 Holsteins. A qualified engineer, Schalk created and wrote a computer programme specifically designed for his business. Mike Hardy, a researcher at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, was named the SA Scientist of the Year. L abious Manoto from Lombaardslaagte in the North West is the Developing Farmer of the Year. plants 659ha to sunflowers and 350ha to maize on communal land close to Sannieshof. Neels Ferreira, the SA chairperson, announced this will be the last year that there will be categories for commercial and emerging farmers as in future all farmers would be judged on output. – Staff reporter