It was all glitz and glamour at this year’s John Deere Awards on Friday, 10 November, at the Kievit Kroon Gauteng Wine Estate outside Pretoria, where the faces behind the machinery were celebrated for their contribution to the food production industry.
According to John Deere Southern Africa division sales manager Lucas Groenewald, agriculture experts must tell a positive story about farmers and about them doing their best to produce food.
Appreciating excellence
“I always say that we are in the food production business, it is our practice. We produce food. I think this is the story that we need to tell because it is a good story to tell,” he said.
He explained that 2 300 tractors were produced in 2023, with the 5075 coming out as the top-selling tractor in the market, and the 6135B and 6140M as the top large excelling tractors in South Africa today.
“We have sold the greatest number of tractors in South Africa’s history, with 338 tractors being sold. In a good year, we sell 200 tractors. We sold 49 cars with a market share of 68% and we could have sold more.
“I would like to say well done to the organisation because they are the ones doing this from early in the morning to late at night so that people at home and their families can have food,” he said.
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Hard work pays off
Some of the winners of the night included Henkie Breed for his extra hard work in the sales division. He won the Jacky Pretorius Extra Mile Award in honour of the late Jacky Pretorius.
For the Small Agriculture Sales Expert of the Year Award, Karl Janse van Rensburg received first place and he was acknowledged for increasing his market share of small tractors from 45% to 60%.
For the Large Agriculture Sales Expert of the Year Award 2023, Johan Botha from Afgri Middleburg in Mpumalanga came out tops and he was praised for increasing his market share from 69% to 100% in 2023.
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