An organic vegetable farmer who began with five tilapia in a backyard, a citrus business built jointly by 17 producers, and a third-generation apple grower were the winners at Agricultural Writers SA's !Xhariep regional awards, held at Durbanville Hills in South Africa's Western Cape on Friday night. Nedbank sponsored the awards.
Angelo Marman was named Western Cape New Entrant to Commercial Farming of the Year. After a diploma in agriculture from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, he started a tilapia venture in his Malmesbury backyard; it made R25,000, which he put into vegetables on a 2,000 square-metre municipal plot. He later rented an 8-hectare farm near Chatsworth and bought it in 2025 for R4 million. About 8 hectares are now under organic vegetables integrated with pigs and poultry, with vegetable turnover of about R2.9 million. Pigs clear land and eat crop waste, manure and residues become compost, and legumes and companion planting help the soil and keep weeds and pests down. He secures buyers before planting and employs about 13 people.
Ikamva Lethu Farms in the Sundays River Valley was named Eastern Cape New Entrant to Commercial Farming of the Year. Rather than split their own farms to bring workers into ownership, 17 producers and the Sundays River Citrus Company pooled resources to build a new citrus enterprise on undeveloped land, securing environmental approvals and water rights and building water storage, roads, irrigation and orchards. It now has producing orchards and a path to full production.
The overall Western Cape Farmer of the Year title went to Stephan Beukes, chief executive of Dennegeur Farms in Grabouw. Since 2019 he has added the Vredenhof and Applethwaite farms; the business now manages 455.65 hectares of orchards, and packhouse throughput rose from 33,111 bins in 2019 to 55,050 in 2025, with 58 percent Class 1 export fruit in its 2026 packout. After the 2023 floods, spray coverage was restored within 72 hours and irrigation within two months. The farm employs 1,067 people at peak season.
"Each of this year's winners is building something bigger than their own farm," said Marike Brits, chair of the !Xhariep region of Agricultural Writers SA.
Photo: Abu Shawka / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Source: Food for Mzansi
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