The regional candidates for the Agricultural Writers SA (AWSA) Xhariep were officially announced on 21 October during an awards event at the Durbanville Hills Wine Estate, close to Cape Town.

The event’s main sponsors are Nedbank and Old Mutual. The candidates were nominated by AWSA Xhariep’s members in the Farmer of the Year, Agronomist of the Year and New Entrant to Commercial Agriculture categories who will now compete in the national awards event against the candidates from the North region (Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State).

FARMER OF THE YEAR

This award focuses on sustainability in the agricultural industry and the judges at national level will look more specifically at aspects such as biological productivity, risk management, management of natural resources, economic stability and social responsibility. Leadership in the industry, management skills and decisions that further contribute to sustainability will come under the spotlight.

Here is Xhariep’s candidate for the Agricultural Writers SA Farmer of the Year award:

ANDREW MASTERSON (EASTERN CAPE)

The Milargo Farm started off as a dairy farm; developed into an innovative beef breeding entity; rolled into sheep farming; became a renowned Auction host and owns a local butchery that people travel from near and far to visit! Milagro, situated near Oyster Bay in the Eastern Cape, is 495ha in size with an additional 700ha (hired) that adjoins the farm. The Milagro Holstein herd was established out of the Saragossa herd in 1996. With a milking herd of 400, 300 are registered Holstein and 100 are Jersey cows. The farm contains a beef herd of 400 registered Simmentaler and Angus cattle, 200 commercial cattle as well as a 2000 sheep and a registered Charolais herd.

A beef herd with registered Simmentaler and Angus cattle was developed and a sheep component generates income in the form of lamb, mutton and wool. The production of beef and lamb gave them the opportunity to buy a butchery in Humansdorp in 2015, to provide directly to the public. Sebastians specialises in selling “grass fed”Angus beef and is the only outlet in the country where Angus beef has been available on a consistent basis.

Milagro: Accolades at shows and championships 2017: Dairy and Beef Queen at the Agri-Expo Livestock Show. 2018: Beef Queen of the Expo with a Simmentaler cow – the first time that a Simmentaler won this prestigious award. 2019: Both male and female Beef Gold Cups at the Royal show, Pietermaritzburg. 2022: Grand Champion bull accolade at the Simmentaler Nationals in April. 2022: Grand Champion Black Angus female and the Breeders of Champions award Angus National Show in Bloemfontein The business expanded into the Auction Trade and hosted Production Sales for the past 10 years. Mastersons employs more than 50 people from surrounding communities.

AGRICULTURIST OF THE YEAR

This year the focus is on agricultural extension services in the Agriculturist of the Year category. The people in the industry who give advice, share research in an understandable way, give training, and who also do research themselves to be specialist advisers, are an important link in the food value chain. Producers rely on the knowledge and practical advice of these experts’ guidance to make better decisions on their farms.

The candidates from Xhariep are:

DUP HAARHOFF – NORTHERN CAPE

For the first ten years of his working career, Dup worked in the pedology department of the Institute for Soil Climate and Water, where he conducted research on crop water management and erosion models, and he was responsible for the Ellisras land type map. In 1995 he joined Suidwes Köoperasie as an agricultural advisor with agronomy, economics and irrigation scheduling as part of his tasks.

Dup started working at GWK in 2001 as an agricultural adviser, and is today the company’s Head of Agricultural Services. During his studies he specialized in groundwater management, which led to the establishment of irrigation scheduling as a profitable commercial business in the Northern Cape. Through his holistic approach to production practices, he has established a team of expert advisors, who focus on various aspects of agronomy and soil science, as well as economic facets of farming.

During the precision farming era, Dup’s team quickly adapted to fill the gap between technology and its application. With the help of University of Stellenbosch (SU), this team becomes one of the first in the country to use remote sensing through regular satellite images as a tool during guidance. Dup’s most remarkable achievement is probably the development of an extension model where agricultural experts provide guidance in an independent manner without being financially subsidized (no product sales form part of the model).

The agricultural experts who are part of this model are most likely the only pure extension team in the country that gets it right. Dup built this team (consisting of 18 people) to where it is today one of the most respected agricultural teams in the country. With a total-package approach (holistic approach) a wide variety of facets are covered and this team has a sharp focus on data capture and its processing, to the benefit of the producer.

CONRAD SCHUTTE (WESTERN CAPE)

Twenty years ago, Conrad Schutte began his career in the viticulture industry, where he swiftly rose through the ranks through hard work and determination. Twelve years ago, he joined the wine industry organisation Vinpro, where he is presently the head of their advisory services. Since joining Vinpro in 2010, he has ascended the corporate ladder, beginning as a regional viticulturist for the Stellenbosch region before being promoted to assistant manager: consultancy services, to where he is today.

His credentials include a BSc honours degree in agriculture and an MBA from the University of Stellenbosch. From his beginnings as a cellar assistant at the Plasir de Merle Wine Estate, his experience has grown immensely. Conrad’s expertise in viticulture research and practical experience in the vineyard, not only locally but as well as internationally, is a primary virtue that sets him apart from his competition. Schutte is a well-rounded candidate who possesses superior knowledge and extensive experience.

NEW ENTRANT TO COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE

The third category, New Entrant to Commercial Agriculture, produced two candidates from the region. The focus falls on farmers who have made the leap from subsistence farmer level, to smallscale farmer to a full-fledged commercial producer in the past 10 years and who have already achieved success on various levels and are still forging ahead.

Tshilidzi (Tshili) Matshidzula – Eastern Cape Without government aid, but with the support of a good mentor, a boy from Limpopo started managing a dairy farm in the Eastern Cape. Today Tshilidzi (Tshili, 34) Matshidzula is going from strength to strength and the farm continues to grow. As a native of Thohoyandou in Limpopo and a graduate of the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria, Tshili ended up in the Eastern Cape. He took over the management of the dairy on Little Barnet 5km from Alexandria in September 2005. He became a 40% shareholder in Matshibele (Pty) Ltd, which owned the farm. At that time the farm was milking about 450 cows .

Little Barnet was awarded the prestigious Mangold Trophy from the Bathurst Conservation Committee in 2016. In the same year, Tshili was named the Eastern Cape’s Young Farmer of the Year. In 2019 Oakleaf Agri and Tshili ventured into a new partnership together in starting a new dairy, Mountain Park, in Stutterheim. Mountain Park has more than 1 000 milk cows. Today Tshili is a 5% shareholder in the farm with an opportunity to grow his shareholding to 10%. In 2020, Tshili was the winner of the Milk Producers Organization (MPO) and Nedbank’s Stewardship award.

Tshili serves on the board of the Eastern Cape Milk Producers’ Organisation as well as on the committee of the Alexandria Dairy Study Group. He is very involved in the training of Agricultural students . He is married to Everest who is also very involved on the farm. His passion for dairy farming is reflected in his excellent farm management practices and attention to detail, which includes extensive consultation with experts and peers to maintain best practice. He has extraordinary vision and certainly knows what is needed for future sustainability.

Johnny Karolus, Western Cape Although Johnny Karolus is the Estate Manager of Eyethu Intaba (the empowerment project of Donkerbos Estate), the term “New Entrant” does not fully acknowledge this extremely skilled and capable manager and shareholder.

Johnny is in his own right one of the best Stone Fruit Production managers in the soft fruit industry. He takes responsibility for all day to day management decisions of the farm Disselfontein; including production and labor planning. He is also responsible for setting up and managing the budget for the Apple and Pear departments. Furthermore, Johnny is also responsible for his weekly planning as well as setting up his annual production goals. This includes quality and quantity objectives per cultivar per block.

These production goals are measured annually. Included are several published articles regarding this remarkable candidate.

• In 2012, Donkerbos Estate bought the farm Disselfontein with 72 hectares of fruit.

• In the first year, all unprofitable blocks are pulled out and only 28 hectares of high potential cultivars remain.

• New orchards are established and today we boast 83 hectares of apples and 20 hectares of pears.

• We plant approximately 60 hectares of commercial onions and during the winter months also produce 26 hectares of onion seedlings according to a strict crop rotation schedule. Vegetable production on Disselfontein is not Johnny’s primary responsibility.

• These onion plants offer us and our commercial partner the advantage of being self-sufficient, saving costs and also providing work to our employees in a more sustainable way.