Have you heard? Mixed farming is where the real hustle happens! It’s all about growing crops and raising animals on the same land, giving you more ways to make money and get the most out of what you’ve got.
Everything works together, too: animals feed the soil, crops feed the animals, and you spend less on inputs while keeping your land healthy. Now that’s smart farming.
Experts tell Food For Mzansi that mixed farming also helps mitigate risk, as farmers are not reliant on a single commodity, making the enterprise more resilient to market fluctuations, climate challenges, and disease outbreaks.
With proper planning, record-keeping, and market awareness, a mixed farming business can offer long-term sustainability and profitability, especially for small-scale and new-era farmers looking to maximise returns from limited land and resources.
Loyiso Mbete, founder of Group 500 and a seasoned farmer, shared practical guidance on how small-scale and new-era farmers can successfully manage a mixed farming enterprise. Drawing from over a decade of hands-on experience and farmer support, Mbete unpacks key strategies for balancing crops and livestock, optimising resources, and keeping your farm business profitable.
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Why mixed farming matters
“Farming, by its nature, is a mixed system. Livestock provides manure, which feeds the crops, and those crops can in turn be used to feed the livestock,” says Mbete.
Combining crop and livestock production is not only practical but also beneficial for sustainability and cash flow. Crops can offer quicker returns while livestock contributes to long-term investment. “Each input serves as an output to the other; you are then able to bring a balance to both activities,” he explains.
Plan with purpose: The five-pillar system
In a mixed farming system, where both crops and livestock must be managed in tandem, careful and coordinated planning is essential to ensure that each component supports the other effectively. This involves setting clear production goals, aligning operations with market demand, managing seasonal cycles, and allocating resources such as land, labour, water, and inputs efficiently.
“Planning is a big part of it, especially if, as a small farmer, you are seeking to create a business out of farming. It’s a typical requirement that you really can’t do without,” Mbete says.
Mbete’s team developed a five-step pillar approach that helps guide operations and decision-making:
- Production plan
- Animal health plan
- Security plan
- Standard operating procedure (SOP)
- Sales and marketing plan
While these are helpful pillars, he stresses that market understanding should guide the entire plan. “You can’t be producing anything without knowing what the market wants. Otherwise, you are going to waste your money and waste your time.”
Mbete advises that standard operating procedures and health plans must align with industry standards to meet market requirements, especially for food safety and biosecurity.
Understand the market
Group 500 supports farmers through a “jumpstart programme”, which helps assess a farmer’s readiness to tap into markets. Mbete says networking is crucial: “Create a working network and also relations that will assist you to understand the industry better.”
He encourages farmers to align themselves with support structures like the department of agriculture and enterprise development organisations. “You don’t operate in isolation and make mistakes that will take you down.”
Use resources wisely
Mixed farming allows for the efficient use of natural inputs. “There is no waste in farming; everything is usable. The cow gives you manure, that manure you put back into the ground,” Mbete says.
He suggests that farmers prioritise cropping for quicker returns, while livestock serves longer-term business growth. Sustainability, in his view, means creating a rotational cycle where every resource feeds back into the system.
Keep your records tight
Mbete places a strong emphasis on record-keeping. He has designed a management system for both financial and operational records and hopes to turn it into a mobile app to help farmers simplify record keeping.
“You might be doing a lot of different operations and you can’t keep everything in the head,” he warns. “You need to have a system that can assist you so you are then able to refer back to whenever you need to do anything.”
Be prepared for risk
Farming is inherently risky, and Mbete stresses the importance of saving during good years. “Don’t ever think that money is yours,” he says, cautioning against overspending during boom periods.
He highlights the importance of being conscious of risks from day one: “Get into this business knowing that you are going to have to take a risk.” Theft, disease outbreaks like foot and mouth disease, and weather-related challenges are just some of the many threats farmers face.
Invest in the right infrastructure
For those managing both crops and livestock, access roads and fencing are priority infrastructure. “How are you going to transport your produce if there’s no road? How are you going to secure your produce if there’s no fencing?”
Although long-term infrastructure, like livestock pens, is important, Mbete advises farmers to begin with essential basics such as gravel roads, which form the foundation for farm accessibility and operations.
Aim for profitability
Profitability in mixed farming depends on integrating all of the above elements—planning, market alignment, resource use, and risk management. Mbete urges farmers to view every part of their operation as part of a larger system: “Everything on the farm should serve as an input within the same system, allowing you to sustain your farming programme.”
With this approach, farmers can better navigate the complexity of running a mixed enterprise and build a more resilient and sustainable farm business.
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