Grootfontein farmers celebrate 100 years

THE Grootfontein Farmers’ Association celebrated its centenary this past weekend.

To mark the passing of a hundred years since the founding of the farmers’ association, its members gathered at Grootfontein on Friday evening to enjoy a dinner together and witness the handing over of special awards to long-standing members of the association and people who have made a remarkable contribution to agriculture in the Grootfontein area.The town of Grootfontein styles itself the agricultural capital of Namibia. The main pillars of agriculture in the area, which is blessed with some of the highest rainfall in Namibia, are cattle farming and maize farming.One of the recipients of an award was retired State veterinarian Dr Piet Basson. He was born at Grootfontein and, after studying in South Africa and working at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute in that country, returned to Grootfontein to work as State veterinarian for more than 20 years until his retirement in 1995.Awards were also given to well-known maize farmer Jan Engelbrecht, Grootfontein area farmer Koos Brandt, who is also the chairperson of the board of directors of Capricorn Investment Holdings and its subsidiary Bank Windhoek, and farmer Ingo Halberstadt.With Halberstadt’s grandfather having bought a farm in the area in 1900, the Halberstadt family is one of the Grootfontein district’s oldest farming families.Ingo Halberstadt is a former manager of the Agra branch at Grootfontein, and is now also a Bonsmara cattle stud farmer.The main sponsor of the centenary celebrations was Bank Windhoek.