Pieter Taljaard
CEO, Grain SA pieter@grainsa.co.za
By this time, everyone must be so fed up with power issues and the search for energy solutions, but I can’t help but give my opinion as well.
The short and the long of my story is that it once again just showed the value and importance of the collective as well as unanimity of the collective. This, per se, is usually much easier said than done and thus it remains one of Grain SA’s biggest opportunities. Therefore, it is one of our most important focus areas to obtain a broader representative base for the producer organisation within an increasingly changing and more concentrated sector.
Apart from all the other benefits, the greatest value that I see in this is precisely the diverse inputs, ideas, wisdom and solutions that we can obtain as a collective in order to create new opportunities. The challenge we face is to sensibly channel the processes and work order to gain momentum and not to bicker amongst ourselves.
Similar to this is the opportunity at individual business level that the general energy shortage brings. The opportunity is precisely about analysing and correcting the effectiveness of existing installations as part of an investment in an alternative-energy solution. The pioneers in the field agree that the right expertise, planning and reliable installers are crucial to do the analyses and make recommendations. The wonderful thing about the South African producer is that experience with solar systems has even inspired and helped to develop new ideas for crop production practices and systems. Simply fantastic!
Sometimes it takes a short visit to a neighbouring country to realise anew on return: Amidst all the unique local challenges, we still enjoy great advantages and we are miles ahead. So, there is hope and we have a reason to keep it as is and to rebuild it. Once again, we will only succeed if we tackle it together. Still, we have a lot of positives to hold on to – for instance, the current season’s maize and soybean export programmes that, despite all the bottlenecks, have performed extremely well and are really valuable to producers.
The current circumstances necessitate a critical replanning of each producer’s medium- and long-term strategic business plan. May we support each other and help each other to see the opportunity in every challenge in order to secure a future and continue to enjoy what we do.
A crucial part of the planning in any business is the human resources part – we often hear that successful businesses regard workers as their most important resource. With all the requests for training, Grain SA is pleased to fulfil this mandate in March with 180 learnerships that are now available for basic training. These are really entry-level positions and learners with primary school level education can easily partake. Exactly how everything will work, is not a hundred percent sure yet, but it has to be flexible and work for small and larger producers.
My request is: Think well and positively over the long term, encourage one another, invest in your workers and please talk to each other and to Grain SA about your needs and ideas. I cannot even begin to explain how much these conversations help to form ideas and explore new directions – and thus we move forward. Often the conversation starts with ‘I have a silly idea’ or ‘I know this might be a stupid plan’, but that might just be the necessary boost or thought to make another picture clearer. Enjoy farming and forget about the noise!
