Many farmers are specialists in their fields and Rudzani Sadiki, originally from Mokopane, Limpopo, was well on his way to becoming a poultry specialist when circumstances forced him into a completely different farming direction – farming oilseed crops. Not a man to allow change to put him off his stride, Rudzani adapted quickly and applied his mind to making a success of oilseed farming. He currently plants 974ha sunflower, which is supplied on contract.

Farming seems to come easily to Gopolang Tladinyane and his sons, Motlapele and Reaobaka, who are happily dedicated to their family team and to their farming business. Gopolang knows the value of early learning in agriculture and finance, and has made his boys profit-sharers in the business. Gopolang is a well-known Simmentaler and Simbra stud breeder and with his sons, grow dryland sunflowers on communal land they lease in Bethanie, whereas the home farm of 100ha in Sanddrift is dedicated to producing feed for the intensive livestock operation of 60 Simmentaler and Simbra breeding cows, 80 Meatmaster sheep and 100 Boer goats.

From humble beginnings with little more than the clothes on her back and ten cattle, Loretta Visagie has built a healthy diversified farming business in under a decade. She has two outstanding character traits that have made this seemingly impossible story possible: She never gives up and she actively seeks out opportunities to learn about farming and to network with others. Watch African Farming to find out how Loretta turned her dreams into reality on her farm, Kings Farming Cooperative.

Emmanuel Mudau, of Mathuba Genetics in Limpopo, had his first brush with genetics during his childhood when he bred and reared pigeons as a hobby. Deliberate selection for colour traits in the birds gave Emmanuel an early opportunity to experiment with genetics. Years later, in 2016, Emmanuel joined a group of three other farmers and they started a genetics project breeding what became the Bosvelder sheep. He is the former founding deputy president of the Indigenous Veld Goat Breeders Society and the current founding deputy president of the Bosvelder Sheep Breeders Society.