Opinion: A postcard (and some inspiration) from South Africa
© Adobe Stock I am writing this as a postcard from South Africa. The winter sun must be influencing my mood because this column will primarily be an optimistic one.
I am here on a farm study tour as a guest of Herefordshire Ag Club. Our host is Angus Davison, last year’s club chairman, who has created successful businesses over here.
My partner, Richard, is the real club member.
My status here is a bit like Angela Merkel’s husband when he used to hang out with the other world leaders’ wives, but they are making me feel welcome.
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About the author
I love being among Herefordshire farmers. Their friendly camaraderie is different to the way Lincolnshire farmers interact – they make farming seem like fun.
This has been a trip full of laughter, but with large amounts of curiosity, observation and constructive discussions. Everyone will go home feeling inspired.
This is largely down to Angus, for my money the most visionary and energetic farmer in the UK and someone who generously encourages others to share his ambition.
Angus was keen to show us how South African agriculture is thriving, in the hope it would inspire us to be more ambitious.
South African advantages
South Africa has many advantages: the sun mostly shines, the wages are 10% of what we pay in the UK and regulation is lenient.
It is easier to build things here, and there is visible economic growth all around.
Strip out these natural advantages and there is still a lot to learn from.
The most striking thing is the way the South Africans we met approach their work – passionately, positively, professionally and without ego. There are serious businesses here.
We visited a farming family with 7,000 dairy cows – healthy looking Jerseys grazing outdoors year round and efficiently milked in immaculate rotary parlours.
On an 80ha avocado farm we met a successful manager whose forensic focus on agronomy sailed over our heads; especially the unlucky members of our group who’d had only four hours’ sleep.
At Haygrove, Angus’s business, we saw a laboratory on the farm creating tissue culture fruit plants which was accelerating genetic improvements at a speed that was breathtaking.
Excellent managers
The common thread through all these businesses has been the excellent managers we have met – university-educated, scientific, data-driven and focused on continual improvements.
When I think of us in the UK in our Schoffels, laughing along with the jingoism and cartoon incompetence of Clarkson, it isn’t a flattering comparison. We are falling behind the rest of the world.
We can complain that the UK government isn’t supportive, but remember that these South African businesses have developed under the rule of the African National Congress.
Tomorrow, Richard and I are heading up to Kenya to visit flower companies that we work with there, to gain more insights on how we can improve in the UK.
What an inspiring January.
To those of you fortunate enough to have the time and money to head abroad in the winter, I heartily urge you to visit farms in Africa rather than a deckchair in the Canary Islands.
Furthermore, let’s cherish groups like Herefordshire Ag Club, which promote local success with global context.
Regional collaboration is a powerful antidote to the isolation and the erosion of ideas that many farmers feel. We need a club like this in every county.