Optimism is probably South Africans’ most ironic quality — and an asset you would imagine it would be foolish to take for granted.

South Africa’s 2020 large agricultural output, coupled with higher commodity prices which were precipitated by the weaker domestic currency, coupled with growing global demand improved farmers’ finances somewhat.

South Africa — A young white farm manager was found earlier this month strangled and tied to a pole on a farm in the eastern part of the Free State province, police said. Two Black men were accused of the murder.

“How much do you know about farming?” asked Gilly Scheepers, standing on the road between two fields on his Bloukruin Farm in Paul Roux, eastern Free State, before describing the murder of 21-year-old farm manager Brendin Horner.

One feature that has characterised global agricultural markets over the past few weeks is rising prices.

Agriculture has, for a long time, been dominated by men, from leadership positions to primary workers, where only a third of the labour force are women.