DJ van der Linde (32) was chosen as Free State Agriculture’s Young Farmer of the Year.

 

He is not ashamed to admit that the drought has made him a better farmer. The drought has been a crippling blow to the family farm in the Vierfontein district of the North-West, where he farms with maize, sunflowers and cattle.

 

“It is easy in times like these to just give up, but you have to keep going. Times may be difficult at present, but something like this also reaches a peak and then it has to get better.”

 

Positive outlook

 

This is DJ. A positive person who manages his farm the same way. “I always see the positive in something. It is better to be positive and fix what is broken than to brood over it and complain all day.”

Thinking about positive things reminds him of his student years.

 

“The best five years of my life,’’ he laughs. He started with a BSc in botany and zoology in 2003 and switched to BEd Technics in 2004. He stayed in Veritas men's residence in his first year and then moved to a flat.

 

“I have many great memories of the Potchefstroom Campus and our group of friends have regular reunions.” He also met his wife, Rianette, a nurse, in Potchefstroom, and the pair have two children.

 

DJ was a teacher for eight months until his father became very ill in 2008 and he had to take over on the farm, St Helena. Since the passing of his father, Dawie, who was also his mentor, DJ has been working the 750-hectare farm on his own.

 

A dab hand at farming

 

Despite not always having the newest and most recent equipment and technology, St Helena has gradually expanded under DJ's competent hand. He says that his technical studies have been very helpful. “I repair everything myself and regular maintenance of my equipment is a priority.”

 

He enjoys planning around the equipment and skills at his disposal on the farm. Although he cannot regularly replace equipment and implements with their newer, shinier counterparts, he adapts what they have to keep up with a rapidly changing industry.

 

Future growth

 

Farming is his life. “I love to see my hard work growing into something beautiful. That is real job satisfaction,” he says.

 

DJ considers the young farmers of today as the planners and the future of the industry. “We are the farmers of tomorrow and we have to see to it that our children one day plant food for South Africa.”

 

With young farmers of Rupert and DJ's calibre, it seems that South African agriculture is in good hands.