Social Media Takes Farmer From Part-Time To Full-Time Tonota

When establishing a new business, investors often struggle with what to focus on first: the market or the product. Pork farmer Hannes Richards had little difficulty with this decision. A single advertisement on social media triggered such demand for his product that he had to expand his operation as rapidly as possible. Lindi Botha visited him on his farm in Limpopo.from part-time to full-time

While farm life has always been in Hannes Richards’s vision, he never saw himself as a serious producer. But after his daughter won a piglet in a competition, he decided to invest in a small herd. Before long, this grew too large to fit into his part-time schedule, so he had a few animals slaughtered and advertised the meat on Facebook. The avalanche of interest that followed catapulted him into full-time farming.

BACK ON THE LAND

Richards was born on the farm Genoeg Gesukkel in Roossenekal, Limpopo, and spent most of his childhood there. But the drought in the mid-1980s forced his father to sell up, and the family moved to Pretoria, where Richards completed high school.

The longing for farm life, however, led the family to Hazyview, in the same province, where they farmed chickens and vegetables.

“But we were robbed blind and eventually decided to sell the farm,” recalls Richards. “At the same time, though, Genoeg Gesukkel came onto the market again, and I was able to buy it back!”

The farm is only 120ha in size, so Richards knew that he would never be able to farm full-time and make a decent income off this land. But he loved the tranquillity of living here, so he dabbled in one or two small enterprises to make a partial income off the land. “Not long after I moved here, I loaned a sheep farmer friend some money. I told him he could pay me back in sheep, and so I acquired a few SA Mutton Merinos. I bought a ram at a local auction and started breeding the sheep.”

Fast Facts

• Hannes Richards sells meat directly to the public through home deliveries.

• He had to expand his pig herd rapidly to keep up with the sudden response to his advertisement on social media.