‘We want to do the right thing better’: The roots of Partners in Agri Land Solutions

Farming businesses are built on land, capital and markets, and also on relationships that are harder to measure. At the Partners in Agri Land Solutions (PALS) annual general meeting in Ceres, stories from farms and communities showed how mentorship, opportunity and partnerships can reach far beyond the people who first sit down at the table.

By Talitha Janse van Vuuren, multimedia editor at African Farming

In 2014, 19 people in the Witzenberg Valley in the Western Cape came together around six words: “We want to do the right thing better.” Twelve years later, the interesting part is what has grown around that idea.

There are agricultural enterprises that have expanded, new orchards going into the ground and infrastructure being developed. At Kaja Farming, further orchard development is being funded from the business’s own profits. TSR Farming has built a new dam, and further plantings have taken place at Dasberg in Swellendam and Pele ea Pele in Aurora, Piketberg. Development has also continued at Rockbelt Ridge in Robertson.

But hectares planted and infrastructure built tell only part of the story. At the PALS annual general meeting (AGM) in Ceres on 27 August, with its theme of “Honouring our Roots. Forward with Purpose”, much of what was shared was about the people around those businesses – the relationships built over time, knowledge passed from one person to another and opportunities that have grown beyond the original farming enterprise.

Also read: Restituted land, real opportunities: Young South Africans making land reform work

People and partnerships

PALS started as the Witzenberg Partnership in 2014, based on partnerships between new-era farmers, established commercial farmers and viable agricultural enterprises. Its starting point was described at the AGM as “a simple but powerful realisation: we need one another”.

The idea is perhaps most interesting when viewed beyond the formal partnership itself. Farms rarely exist as isolated businesses. They employ people, buy goods and services, develop skills and sit within communities. When a farming enterprise grows, its reach can extend considerably further than the hectares it occupies.

Agriculture contains an enormous amount of knowledge that is difficult to transfer formally. Technical skills can be taught, but experience is accumulated over seasons – through decisions that worked, mistakes that did not, changing markets, difficult weather and years spent understanding a particular crop, animal or farming system.

Passing that experience on requires time from one person and opportunity for another.

“Ultimately, sustainable development is about people,” the chairperson’s report, delivered by PALS vice-chairperson Hennie du Toit, noted.

The focus is therefore on technical training while strengthening leadership, confidence and the ability to take greater responsibility. The aim is to equip people “not merely to participate, but to grow”.

Also read: ‘You are the driver of your own agricultural destiny,’ transformation leader tells farmers

Measuring meaningful growth

Growth in this sense can be difficult to quantify. It may be an employee taking on greater responsibility, a farmer becoming more confident in running a business or someone using skills gained through one opportunity to create another. It also does not happen quickly.

“There are seldom quick solutions to complex problems. Sustainable progress requires commercial realism, patience, strong relationships and a willingness to learn from both successes and setbacks.”

The setbacks have been real too. Some projects have been delayed, with frustrations around financing and timely approvals raised during the AGM. Relationships between people also require continued work, particularly when those relationships involve business, livelihoods and different expectations.

Hennie du Toit, vice-chairperson of Partners in Agri Land Solutions (PALS), delivers the chairperson’s report at the organisation’s annual general meeting in Ceres on 27 August 2026. Photo: PALS

“Credibility is not built through one meeting or one agreement. It is built over time through consistency, trust, delivery and a willingness to remain at the table when conversations become difficult.”

That observation applies well beyond any particular development model. Agriculture depends heavily on relationships – between farmers and employees, business partners, neighbours, buyers, suppliers, mentors and the next generation. Some of the most valuable things exchanged in those relationships cannot be recorded on a balance sheet.

Over the years, the work has involved government, financiers, agricultural organisations and high-profile visitors, including ministers and the President. Yet the chairperson’s report drew a deliberate distinction between those engagements and what happens closer to the ground.

Also watch: The PALS partnership model that’s solving South Africa’s land reform challenge

Rooted in community

“The heart of PALS remains grassroots work.” That grassroots work is visible in farms and businesses, but also in people whose responsibilities, skills and opportunities have changed over time.

It is not a perfectly tidy story. Some enterprises have progressed further than others. Projects still encounter obstacles and partnerships require maintenance. Twelve years is, however, long enough to see how one agricultural opportunity can begin connecting to others – employment, mentorship, skills, economic activity and relationships within a community.

That gave this year’s theme, “Honouring our Roots. Forward with Purpose”, a practical meaning.

The roots are found in those first partnerships and the people who began them. What has grown since is considerably more varied. And the original six words remain a useful description of the intention behind it: “We want to do the right thing better.”