Boschendal celebrates all farm workers whose continuous efforts contributed to Boschendal winning overall Best Performing Farm in the region at the 3rd annual Western Cape Agri Prestige Awards Event in Franschhoek last week, with just under half the accolades awarded to exceptional Boschendal employees.

This initiative, previously known as the Farmworker of the Year competition, honours excellence in the province’s agriculture sector and was initiated in 2002 in order to acknowledge the valuable and important contribution that farm workers make to the sustainability and growth of the agricultural sector in South Africa.

The vision of sponsor Western Cape Department of Agriculture is to first present the competition at provincial level and then at national level, honouring a winner, runner-up and second runner-up in each of the following 11 categories:

General Worker, Tractor Driver, Administrative Personnel, Animal Production, Technical Operator, Irrigation Specialist, Social Development, Agri-processing, Foreman, Junior Management.

At the awards ceremony, Boschendal nominees scooped 5 gold awards out of a possible nine:

General Worker: Jan Steven Koordom

Tractor Driver: Shane Matthews

Administrative Personnel: Naomi Muller

Irrigation Specialist: Melisiswe Mbalo

Best Potential Farmworker of the Year 2016: Lorinda Goeieman

Over 6000 agriculture employees have entered the competition since 2002. As part of the judging process, entrants are scored on their overall knowledge, experience and skill in the agricultural sector.

The winner in each category and the overall winner in each region will go through to the provincial competition which will be held on 12 October 2016 at Kromme Rhee in Stellenbosch. The 2016 Western Cape Agri Prestige Winners will be announced at a Gala Event held on 5 November.