AGRICULTURE NEWS - Etienne van Wyk, a Grootfontein Agricultural College alumnus, lives on Spes Bona farm with his wife Merchell and daughter Thaniell.
He received the 3 800ha farm, which is near Marydale in the Northern Cape, in 2015 from the state on a long-term lease, with the option to buy after 30 years.
He initially ran a successful business, but the extremely challenging drought put his farming enterprise under severe pressure.
“These years taught me a valuable lesson, which is to do all I can and to think outside the box for my business to remain sustainable. The conclusion I reached was to start expanding vertically, since my business is now in a growth phase following the good rain we’ve received so far this summer,” he explains.
