Celebrating the future of the deciduous fruit industry

“This is one of the functions I like so much every year because it provides us with a bit of bragging rights as far as the achievements in our learning and development department, bursaries, internships, work-integrated learning programmes and more are concerned,” Anton Rabe began his talk at the 2025 Bursary Function held on Wednesday 23 April.

He congratulated Astrid Arendse and her team for their guidance in this project. Empowering future producers, researchers, and managers is challenging, and Hortgro must ensure it offers a helping hand as best as possible, he added.

This year, there are 25 undergraduates and 30 post-grads in the programme, totalling 55 bursary students, attending institutions across the country. Undergraduate applications for 2025 totalled 1,455, underscoring the significant need for student funding and the growing appetite for agricultural careers. “Those of you that made the cut must be extremely proud of yourself, but you must also realise this is an immense responsibility to ensure you utilise that opportunity to the betterment of yourself and the industry,” he emphasised.

Hortgro has recently reached out to its value chain stakeholders, including packhouses, exporters, and input and service providers, with the hope of doubling the number of undergraduates from 25 to 50. The industry needs as much new blood as possible. Apart from Hortgro Pome and Hortgro Stone, which are currently supplying the bulk of the funds, two bursaries were also received from Hortgro Dried Tree Fruit. At the same time, AgriSETA has continued to make significant contributions to the programme.

Every year, a veteran from the industry is asked to be a keynote speaker at the Bursary Function, but this year, two former bursary holders, Gift Mdletshe and Tristan Dorfling, shared their stories.

Both Gift and Tristan participated in further development programmes offered by Hortgro Learning and Development, namely the Work Integrated Learning Programme facilitated by Lona Odendaal and the Hortgro Industry Leadership Development Programme. It is worth mentioning that the Work Integrated Programme, which provides added mentorship to develop interns holistically, has a conversion rate of over 80% in permanent jobs. That is the proof of the pudding.

First up was Gift.“I am from a small town, Mtunzini, in the north of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), and I was fortunate to be recruited to attend Stellenbosch University (SU). All I ever wanted to be was a pharmacist, but when I got to the US, I discovered they don’t offer the qualification!” he said with a shy smile.

The core of his interest was science, and fortunately for the deciduous fruit industry, he found happiness in studying for a BSc in Agriculture with a major in plant pathology and horticulture. After nearly completing his degree, he still didn’t know what would be next when one of his lecturers introduced him to Dr Iwan Labuschagne at Provar, where he says he was shadowing but applied for his MSc.

“Being at Provar and being a post-grad has been a rollercoaster; it’s been challenging, but I am very honoured to be part of the team. I learned a lot about team dynamics and myself. I am exposed to the industry and am very close to the people that I need to be with.”

Tristan Dorfling also initially never considered agriculture, or more specifically, horticulture, as a future career. He never saw agriculture as a science. Then, one day, Dr Michael Schmeiser, a lecturer at SU, took him to the experimental farm and explained horticulture to him. He was hooked.

Eventually, he completed his MSc in collaboration with Provar, and today, he is one of their project leaders, managing pome fruit rootstock trials co-funded by Hortgro Science.

“What continues to inspire me about agriculture is the constant opportunity of working with nature to improve what we are doing. To the bursary recipients here today, I’d like to say you’re stepping into an industry that needs you. And while the road won’t always be clear, if you stay open to learning and hold on to what made you choose this field, you’ll go much further than you dreamed. Agriculture is full of opportunities, complexity, questions, and real-world impact. If you love a good challenge, you’re in the right place.”

 Fast Facts About the HBP:

• HBP currently boasts 25 undergraduate students, funded at R1.7 million, studying at the University of Stellenbosch, Elsenburg, CPUT, North-West University, and the University of Cape Town.
• Hortgro Science currently supports 30 post-graduate students for R4 million.
• Some of the Hortgro bursary holders participate in the Hortgro Mentorship Programme. Currently, 42 students are placed in the following areas: Ceres, KBV, Paarl, Stellenbosch, Tulbagh, Wellington, Piketberg, Simondium, Porterville, Villiersdorp and Avontuur.

For more information about the Hortgro Bursary Programme, please visit www.hortgro.co.za or contact Astrid Arendse at astrid@hortgro.co.za

Main picture: Anton Rabe, Nic Dicey, Gift Mdletshe, Tristan Dorfling, Charl Stander, Angelo Petersen, Astrid Arendse