Ensures a win-win situation.
When Nico Harris of Melmoth, KwaZulu-Natal recently received the Farmer’s Weekly SA Studbook award as Elite Mentor Farmer of the Year, it was on behalf of all his partners at Vriendschap Boerdery. They have a family owned farming enterprise, and each of them fully bought into their mission of exerting a positive influence on their environment.
Vriendschap Boerdery currently consists of six partners – three brothers and three cousins. The brothers are Nico, Victor and Heinrich, and the cousins are the two sons of their late brother André: André junior and Wilhelm, and then Nico’s son, also named Nico.
The Harris family has been part of the Melmoth community for four generations, and is also deeply intertwined in the agricultural industry in the district. It is however the present generation who has taken their agricultural involvement to new heights and made its mark in community.
Vriendschap Boerdery originated when the farm Vriendschap became available for sale in 1994. Nico, Victor and Heinrich could scrape together enough money for a deposit. The farm continued to grow from the start, and even in the early stages they could also hire three family members of the next generation.
“Our farming enterprise is based mainly on sugar and forestry. We also produce avocados. And the fourth aspect of the farming enterprise is cattle, in particular Nguni.”
Community involvement
But together with the prosperity experienced by the Harris family in their farming, there was always a major factor to be reckoned with – 82% of the Melmoth district was subject to land claims. This led to great uncertainty and negativity among members of the farming community. The Harris family started looking into the option of emigrating to Australia. But, says Nico, their hearts were not in it. They felt that four generations in the region counted for something.
Bu hikaye FarmBiz dergisinin August 2016 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye FarmBiz dergisinin August 2016 sayısından alınmıştır.
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