Pieter Pienaar, credit sales & marketing manager of John Deere Financial, hands over the keys.
One of the most vibrant events on the Grain SA calendar is the annual Day of Celebration and this year there was even more to celebrate as the event was preceded by the first rain for the season.
The Day of Celebration aims to honour emerging and new era producers who are part of the PGP Farmer Development Programme and have excelled in their respective categories. And so, on 18 September, the agricultural community gathered at NAMPO Park near Bothaville to recognise and celebrate the hard work and achievements of these producers.
The keynote address was delivered by Annette Steyn, advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, who himself could not be at the event. He however congratulated the finalists in a video message. The minister thanked Grain SA for their investment in equipping producers in South Africa to be sustainable and competitive in the grain value chain. He added that he is excited to work with Grain SA and all the producers who are part of the organisation to build a sector that is resilient, one that will grow South Africa’s economy and contribute with job creation.
Sponsor representatives, Dr Langelihle Simela (business development manager: Absa AgriBusiness Centre of Excellence), Themba Rikhotso (chief executive officer of Landbank), Sandile Khumalo (squad coordinator: Seeds from Bayer Crop Science Division South Africa), Diale Tilo (executive director, Kgodiso Development Fund), Pieter Pienaar (credit sales & marketing manager of John Deere Financial), Andries Wiese (Hollard Insure), Calvin Motsipiri (manager: Agribusiness SE, Standard Bank South Africa) and Phillip Hollenbach (agricultural development manager: Pannar Seed) took turns to speak about the importance of farmer development and the role each of these organisations play in partnership with Grain SA.
Recognising excellence
In preparation of the event, judges travelled to all ends of South Africa to identify finalists in the following categories: Grain SA/Absa/John Deere Financial New Era Commercial Farmer of the Year; Grain SA Potential Commercial Farmer of the Year; Grain SA Smallholder Farmer of the Year; and Grain SA/Absa/John Deere Financial Subsistence Farmer of the Year.
Each category was designed to recognise different scales of farming operations:
- Subsistence Farming: for producers managing 1 to 3 ha.
- Smallholder Farming: for those with 4 to 49 ha.
- Potential Commercial Farming: for operations producing 50 to 249 tons.
- New Era Commercial Farming: for those exceeding 250 tons.
These categories ensure that producers at all levels of production are given the opportunity to shine and be acknowledged for their hard work and innovation.
Grain SA/Absa/John Deere Financial New Era Commercial Farmer of the Year
The highlight of the event was the announcement of the Grain SA/Absa/John Deere Financial New Era Commercial Farmer of the Year. This year Petrus Tsotetsi, who farms on Die Bult in the Thabo Mofutsanyana district near Kestell in the Free State, walked away with this prestigious award. He won a brand-new John Deere 5075E utility tractor, a versatile piece of machinery to help expand his tractor fleet.
Tsotetsi joined Grain SA in 2013 and became part of the mentorship programme in 2016. Johan Kriel and Jacques Roux have played a big part in seeing his farming operation grow.
He plants crops – maize, soybeans and sugar beans in a rotation system – on 206 ha of arable land, and his livestock grazes on the other 110 ha. He is also an asparagus farmer. As this is a very labour-intensive operation with the asparagus having to be harvested daily for about six months, people in the community benefit as they are employed by the cooperative.
One of his dreams is that as a fully-fledged commercial farmer he will be able to provide more jobs in the community and influence people to acknowledge the importance of agriculture.
Grain SA Potential Commercial Farmer of the Year
The 2024 Grain SA Potential Commercial Farmer of the Year is Alfred Gondo, a producer from the Middelburg region in Mpumalanga. He joined the Farmer Development Programme in 2015 and has gained a wealth of knowledge and agricultural skills from it. Last season he planted more than 100 ha – 62 ha of soybeans and 42 ha of white maize. Even though climatic conditions were problematic, he still managed to realise a yield of 7,7 t/ha on the maize and 1,1 t/ha on the soybeans. He also plants spinach to help with his cash flow.
Gondo’s love for farming motivates him to dream big and he is planning on increasing his area planted to 500 ha in three years’ time. He has leased another 110 ha from a neighbouring producer, but because he knows that healthy soil means a healthy crop, he still has to do a lot of soil preparation before he can plant there. He also wants to buy more farming equipment to increase his efficiency and productivity.
Grain SA/Land Bank Smallholder Farmer of the Year
The 2024 Grain SA Smallholder Farmer of the Year, Jim Besabakhe Masemola, developed an interest in agriculture at a young age. His parents used oxen to work the land, and he would help them on their fields. He did not complete his school education due to challenging circumstances and started working on a farm in 1980. In 1991 he changed careers and worked for contractors in Pretoria for three years, after which he started working for himself, trying his hand at farming. He used to get between five and six bags of maize per hectare, but after becoming part of the Farmer Development Programme in 2019, he started to farm seriously, following correct production practices. In the 2019/2020 season, he harvested 4 t/ha of maize. Last season it increased to 6 t/ha and he is hoping for at least 7 t/ha this season.
Grain SA/Absa/John Deere Financial Subsistence Farmer of the Year
Although Mhlangenqaba Mkizwana (77) from Maclear in the Eastern Cape is the oldest finalist in the 2024 competition, he still dreams of becoming a commercial producer. At the Day of Celebration event, Mkizwana was announced the 2024 Grain SA/Absa/John Deere Financial Subsistence Farmer of the Year. His devotion to agriculture comes from his parents who were communal farmers. They produced maize using animal traction and owned sheep, cattle, and pigs. Their produce was their only source of income. After school he left home to look for employment and started working for various mine companies in Gauteng. In 1989 he returned home to follow his dream of becoming a full-time farmer and he has never looked back. His agriculture knowledge has increased since becoming part of the Farmer Development Programme and he is the chairperson of the Gamakhulu study group.
Dr Tobias Doyer, CEO of Grain SA, gave the concluding remarks at the Day of Celebration and reminded the winners in each category to take up a mentorship role by teaching others what they have learnt. He added that it is a huge privilege for Grain SA to be involved in seeing producers grow and produce more year on year. ‘A farmer who grows from a 3-ha to 6-ha operation contributes to the local economy. Jobs are created and communities are sustained when producers do well. We are all in this together and we want to see more people in rural areas included in the grain value chain so that we can build a better South Africa,’ he concluded.
