For many farmers, their work is a labour of love. For Whernit Dirks, co-owner of Genadeshoop Boerdery near Piketberg in the Western Cape, nothing has ever been truer.
In the second episode of the Farmer’s Inside Track podcast and video series, Food For Mzansi’s editor Dawn Noemdoe and co-founder Ivor Price speak to Dirks. He’s the son of a family of agriworkers who’s been farming grain and livestock with his family for more than 14 years.
In the podcast, Dirks passionately explains how he went from sitting on the back of a bakkie as a worker to now driving it as the owner of his own thriving farm.
In the video he recalls moving moments in his personal agricultural journey, along with openly sharing his frustrations with the industry, fighting against exclusion and his thoughts on being young and black in the sector.
Providing need-to-know advice for agriculturists and farmers, Dirk also guides Price and Noemdoe through his agricultural mishaps and the costly lessons he has learnt in managing a family-led farming and agriculture business.
“I’ve learned not to spend on agricultural equipment or goods that I don’t really need. A big mistake we did was to expand our business so rapidly without taking into consideration that droughts would come,” Dirks says.
- LINK: Click here to listen to our podcast interview with Dirks.
- LINK: Click here to watch our video interview with Dirks.
The Farmer’s Inside Track podcasts and videos are recorded in both Cape Town and Johannesburg and is available on different platforms, including a weekly e-mailer, a WhatsApp line and a bustling Facebook group.
To get free access to all the exclusive content on Farmer’s Inside Track, head to farmersinsidetrack.co.za and sign up. To join the WhatsApp line, either click here or send a WhatsApp with the message “Sign me up for Farmer’s Inside Track” to +27 81 889 9032, providing your name and surname, e-mail address and province.
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