GrainSA/Syngenta Grain Producer of the Year 2013

SUCCESS LEADS TO PROSPERITY AND FOOD SECURITY
 
During a prestigious function that took place on 11 October 2013, Anthony Evans of the Rhys Evans Group, Viljoenskroon was announced as the winner of the Syngenta Grain SA Producer of 2013 and Maurice Boki of the farm Horncroft, situated between Cedarville and Taylorville, was announced as the ABSA Developing Grain Producer of the Year 2013.
 
For both the Grain SA Producer of the Year as well as the Grain SA Developing Grain Producer of the Year, strict criteria were applied and included human resource practices, sound finance management, diversity farming, responsibility to the development of employees, and many more.
 
Anthony Evans started farming together with his farther Rhys Evans, on the farm Huntersvlei near Viljoenskroon during 1968 after completing his studies at, amongst others, the Universities of Rhodes, Oxford- and Harvard. It soon became clear to them that high yields were more important than large areas, which led to the withdrawal of low potential soils and the establishing of grazing to include a cattle factor as an integral part of the crop farming. Arno Cronjé, General Manager of the Evans Group, joined the farming enterprise during 1991 while Anthony's son David, (the fourth generation) had also in the meantime, joined. Tilling practices are very crop and soil specific and remain one of their greatest challenges. The diverse composition of the soil types, as well as the rotational cropping system leads to the application of various tilling practices. Precision farming, with everything that accompanies that, has become part of their farming practice since 2003.
 
Syngenta has awarded the Rhys Evans Group with a seven day holiday in Switzerland for two people when they will have the opportunity to visit the Syngenta Head Office in Basel, as well as the research facility in Stein.  , The other finalists, CD du Toit from Riversdal, Dirk van Rensburg from Pauciflora Farming and Kurt Thiele from Thiele Estates, and their partners can look forward to a 3-night luxury break at the Lanzerac Hotel and Spa.