Grapes better than printing

This article looked at a young man who gave up his job to help his father produce export-quality grapes.

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It must be quite a decision for any man - especially one with sound training in his chosen vocation - to pack up his job and go into grape farming in [Gauteng], many miles away from the traditional grape-growing areas of the Cape.

This was the choice young Paul van Rensburg made when his father, Paul Sr, gave him the option of becoming a grape farmer rather than remain a lithographer.

"I had already qualified as a tradesman when my father came up with the proposition of coming back to the farm and preparing myself to eventually take over the complete operation," says Van Rensburg Jr.

GOING BACK TO GRAPES

Van Rensburg Sr, having retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant-colonel, had suffered a health setback.

"This set me thinking," he says. "I enjoyed my career in the Air Force, but having grown up in the Worcester area of the Western Cape, there was always this urge to go back to grapes. However,

I had bought land at Jakkalsdans, north-east of Pretoria, almost 20 years ago and, having grown vegetables most of the time, I wanted to be a success with grapes."

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