Education and curiosity: crucial to agripreneurship success

As a new producer with no prior knowledge or experience of farming, Vutlhari Chauke of VT Harvest has leaned heavily on her business skills and her willingness to learn. Her approach is paying dividends for her Gauteng-based vegetable and herb farm.

- Susan Marais

Vutlhari Chauke, a 34-year-old first-generation farmer, is passionate about the value of education. And it’s a passion borne out by her own academic record. She obtained five distinctions in matric before studying at the Central University of Technology in the Free State. She then went on to obtain an MBA from the University of South Africa’s Graduate School of Business Leadership in 2014.

Today, Chauke runs VT Harvest, a peri-urban farm that specialises in the production of vegetables, herbs, and high-value crops.

Limpopo-born Chauke had no agricultural experience when she left the comfort of Sandton’s boardrooms in 2017 to start farming. What she did have was a thirst for knowledge and a pair of hands that she didn’t mind getting dirty.

“I’ve moved around in the corporate world and have learnt a lot,” she says. She worked mainly for JSE-listed companies in the logistics and travel and tourism sectors and, as it turns out, the knowledge she garnered along the way has proved invaluable to her farming business today.

“Previously, I had to phone around and find out what clients wanted. This is exactly what I’m still doing today.

“I discovered that agriculture wasn’t as daunting [as I thought] once I just started doing it.”

Chauke adds that business principles are universal, with the key being to ensure that your expenses aren’t more than your income.

A DIRECT AND INDIRECT SUPPLY

Chauke’s GlobalGAP-certified produce can be found in some of the most high-end restaurants in Johannesburg, including an upmarket Sandton hotel. “I don’t supply them directly; I focused on becoming a supplier to their suppliers,” she says, although she does supply directly to a few other restaurants.