In order to thrive in Mzansi’s agricultural sector, farmers need to have access to the necessary skills and networks. Which is why the Real Farmers Trust has taken on the mission to support farmers in critical areas of running a farming business.
Eastern Cape farmer and founder of the Real Farmers Trust, Jac Jordaan, joins us on this episode of Farmer’s Inside Track to talk about how they are helping farmers level up.
According to Jordaan he came across many farmers who struggled to navigate their administrative and accounting responsibilities.
“The Real Farmers Trust was developed after we did training courses and we [got to know] quite a lot of new farmers. We realised they wanted to be part of something rather than just [receiving] training,” Jordaan explains.
This discovery, made during a series of training events for small-scale farmers, led to the trust devising a mechanism to help farmers make the switch from a tedious paperwork system to a software system. The trust also allows new farmers to gain access to support from established farmers.
Get the support your business deserves
Interested members are required to fill out an application if they want to find an investment or business partner, request funding or want to develop their company.
Thereafter, the trust checks the applications and connects members with the relevant parties.
“If an individual wants to look at acquiring or applying for funding, or expanding [their] business, we then link them up with that a specific person [who can fulfil their needs] and see how we can help them to get to [their] goal,” Jordaan explains.
Jordaan says the trust is also on a mission to form partnerships with agricultural supporting banks and other businesses in the agriculture sector to create locations where members can go and make purchases at a discount in the name of the trust.
“We want to expand that part quite widely. As we grow and get more members, our bargaining power will improve. So, in the industry, that will probably be the biggest benefit for any farmer to be part of the trust.”
Jordaan adds that they intend to implement administration courses so that farmers can gain administrative and accounting skills.
The trust is open to people of all ages and genders. The Real Farmers Trust is all about making members’ businesses more efficient by looking at their accounting software, their employee contracts with workers, and relationships with suppliers and customers, Jordaan says.
For those interested in becoming members of the trust, joining costs R300 with a monthly subscription of R50. However, Jordaan adds, most farmers are subscribed to their yearly subscription plan.
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Other podcast highlights:
The best agriculture news podcast on the planet also features other highlights for the agricultural sector this week:
- Fig planting season is here and this week we share the ultimate guide to growing figs for beginner farmers!
- Agripreneur 101: Aubrey Williams, founder of Karoo Creations, a textile company who creates beautiful pure woollen duvets, joins the segment to talk about their product line.
- Book of the week: Our book of the week is We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy by Natalie Baszile.
- Farmer tip of the week: This week’s farmer tip comes from Louis Barnard aka Frugal Sibusiso, owner and founder of Effectify.
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