Syngenta National Potato Farmer of the Year 2022

Murray Thompson was announced as the Syngenta National Potato Farmer of the Year during the Potatoes SA biennial Congress held at the Radisson Hotel and Convention Centre, OR Tambo in Johannesburg on 22 September 2022.

The prestigious event, which had to be postponed due to Covid, was last hosted in 2019 and attracted a fully packed audience, hungry for face-to-face celebration of excellence in the potato industry.

Although participation in the Syngenta National Potato Farmer of the Year is voluntary, candidates have to meet extraordinarily high standards and finalists are identified according to exemplary sustained performance over time. On-farm evaluations are conducted by an independent committee consisting of a chemical specialist, agricultural economist, retail specialist, the current as well as the former National Potato Farmers of the year. 

Murray Thompson from Anthorn Farming in Christiana, plants 300ha potatoes under irrigation from the Vaal River. Christiana is part of the vaalharts irrigation scheme, one of the largest irrigation schemes in the world. 

Apart from table potatoes he also plants seed potatoes in collaboration with WesGrow.  He has been farming for 10 years and came to the farm as a 27-year-old “city boy” from Changhai after the tragic death of his late father.

The water situation this year was challenging with a much higher than average rainfall, mitigating some of the challenges Murray and his team have experienced, such as the erratic eskom power supply when irrigation requires tight scheduling.  The outlook on input costs for the next year to 18 months looks reasonably challenging which Murray ascribes to an international inflationary economic environment.  

Prices of potatoes as product have not gone up nearly as fast as the prices of the input costs, tempting some producers into taking shortcuts. At Anthorn Farming a different approach is followed where everyone in their environment, all their stakeholders, whether it be staff, suppliers, consultants or market agents, everyone has a value to add. Murray says that these stakeholders are allowed to make their contribution to the Anthorn business within a framework where they can still have a sustainable business of their own. “A more friendly stakeholder management system is the one thing I think we are doing well here”, Murray says.

At Anthorn Farming “we have a huge drive to farm sustainably, mainly through our crop rotation”, Murray says. They are on a 7 year cycle with potatoes, followed by maize with grass in between and 5 years of lying fallow which allows soil to rest appropriately, keeping the microbial life as healthy as possible through a natural environment. 

Potato varieties that are taking well into the markets are panamera, sababa and tyson –with all three of them having quite different growing and cooking properties. To Murray this is a measure to some solution of improving potato production in South Africa through cultivar development. 

Addressing the audience after being announced as the Syngenta National Potato Farmer of the Year 2022, Murray expressed his appreciation to everyone in the Anthorn Farming value chain, specifically their customers.  Murray gave special recognition to Johan Nel, Head of Production and General Manager: “Ek sê vir Johan dankie vir al die bloed, sweet en trane deur al die jare, die letterlike slapelose nagte, die vriendskap wat jy vir my gegee het, die leierskap wat jy vir jou span gee en jou geduld met my, met my soms vreemde redenasies – dankie vir alles.” (I thank Johan for all the blood, sweat and tears through all these years, the literal sleepless nights, the friendship you gave me, the leadership you give your team and your patience with me, with my sometimes, strange reasoning – thank you for everything.)

Murray acknowledged WesGrow as another cornerstone in the success of their business over the years, assisting Anthorn Farming to produce a superior product. He concluded his message by saying: “The real reason why I stand Here is my beautiful wife, Sandy, supporting me in my crazy dream to go farming. Thank you, I love you very much”.