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fighting the old, but on building the new. All the participants realised
that it takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and face the
challenges and changes for growth to occur.
In 2018 the programme focused on developing leadership skills
and communication, and the importance of diversity management.
De Wet shared that he had not been in contact with many produc-
ers from other cultures, so to him this was a valuable experience to
learn from others’ insights. ‘It was an eye-opening experience that
showed me that different backgrounds, if striving for the same goal,
can actually work very well together. With that, any challenge can be
resolved through unity.’
‘I met people from different backgrounds who are making excep-
tional moves to make great contributions to the agricultural sector,’
said Tsosane.
Using messy problems
for skills development
The 2018 group of 24 young commercial participants who graduated
from the sixth annual Grain Academy in July this year, were chal-
lenged to deal with tough relevant issues through debate as teams.
Dr René Uys, director of Thinking Fusion, shares that these ‘messy
challenges’ with which the participants were faced never have just
one solution. Challenges were set to enable the graduates to mull
over and then enter into debate around it. Their task was to come up
with suggestions as a group which could turn the messy challenge
into an acceptable option.
This year the delegates were challenged to find solutions for these
relevant issues concerning the agricultural industry:
Group one had to share their thoughts on the wide-ranging
implications which policy uncertainty on land reform and the
expropriation of land hold for the agricultural sector and the
South African economy.
The messy challenge which group two had to face was the in-
creasing liquidity risk in farming enterprises. They debated the
lack of funding for agricultural projects due to the risky nature
of the agricultural sector and came to the conclusion that a lot
has to be done in order to ensure that all producers are able to
access financial assistance.
The third group examined how technology is affecting the ag-
ricultural sector. They had to debate the relentless technology
trends which stand in contrast to the producer’s future social
license to operate in respect of job creation, community invest-
ment, environmental protection and sustainability.
Group four had to debate the fact that South Africa’s tertiary
education is not delivering the higher-education talent needed
for the agricultural industry.
The teams were proud of the possible solutions they found for these
thought-provoking challenges. Through teamwork their communica-
tion skills were enhanced as they realised that by listening to the
opinions of others problem-solving becomes easier. Relationships
between people from different backgrounds were developed.
A well-known life quote says: ‘Do something today that your future
self will thank you for’. This is exactly what these young agricultural-
ists did with the help of the Syngenta Grain Academy.
The group of graduates at the launch of the 2018 programme in March of last year.