Jaco Minnaar - NEWLY elected - President of AGRI SA - Former -GRAIN SA Chairman 2018
Free State Agriculture\'s Young Farmer of the Year for 2011. Director of Sen Wes Company.
Minnaar, who hails from Botesrust farm in the Henneman district, farms with cattle and game, as well as maize, soya beans and potatoes. Over the past five years, he slowly adopted precision farming techniques and he is now in the process of implementing minimum and no-till methods.
Jaco Minnaar is the fourth generation of the Minnaar family to farm on Uitsny, near Hennenman in the Free State.
Uitsny was purchased by his great-grandfather in 1918, but is today part of a farming unit comprising several contiguous farms and separate parcels of land. Jaco also owns land near Bothaville, which allows him to spread his risk.
Jaco plants approximately 2 500ha/year to dryland crops. Most of this is maize, but he
also grows other summer grains such as soya beans and sunflower. In addition, he runs a small cattle component, and a small herd of buffalo in a joint venture with other partners. Despite the numerous risks and challenges, Jaco says he loves being a farmer and cannot imagine doing anything else.
Jaco says that other farmers sometimes forget that in addition to serving in an official capacity as chairperson of Grain SA, he is a farmer too, who experiences the same trials and tribulations as they do.
Minnaar future plans include expanding potato production and diversifying into legume production.
