Investing in the Future of Horticulture

By Elise-Marie Steenkamp

Hortgro’s 2026 Bursary Function celebrates the young people shaping the industry’s next chapter

There is a particular kind of optimism that runs through South African agriculture — the belief that no matter how hard a season has been, a better one is always on its way. That spirit was on full display at Hortgro’s recent Bursary Function, held at STIAS in Stellenbosch, where the industry organisation marked its ongoing investment in the young students, scientists, and researchers who will carry the deciduous fruit industry forward.

For 2026, Hortgro is funding 53 student bursaries worth R6.3 million — support that spans the full pipeline of talent the industry depends on:

• 28 postgraduate students through Hortgro Science, backed by R4.5 million. This includes 22 MSc students, 4 PhD candidates and 2 postdoctoral fellows.
• 25 undergraduate students, supported with a further R1.8 million.

These students are spread across the country and across disciplines — horticulture, entomology, plant breeding, agricultural economics and other agricultural sciences — studying at Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town, North-West University, the University of Mpumalanga, the University of Pretoria, Elsenburg and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

A new CEO, an old campus

The evening carried extra significance for Jacques du Preez, Hortgro’s newly appointed CEO, just two weeks into the role. He described it as a privilege to be part of a new era for the organisation. “We are proud to support the next generation of scientists, researchers and agricultural leaders who will help shape the future of South Africa’s horticultural sector,” he said.

Du Preez’s own path into the industry began, by his own account, with some uncertainty. He too once “ran around the Stellenbosch campus,” unsure of what to study, until a guidance counsellor pointed him towards a BSc in Horticulture and Agricultural Economics. He hadn’t taken biology at school. “The first week of class, we covered the entire matric syllabus of biology,” he recalled. Chemistry brought its own culture shock: he sat alongside chemical engineering students and wondered what he had gotten himself into. He graduated in time regardless and went on to complete his honours in Agricultural Economics at the University of the Free State.

Turning to the season just past, Du Preez didn’t shy away from how difficult it had been. Catastrophic delays at the Port of Cape Town compounded a year already marked by drought, hail, floods, wind, geopolitical disruption, US tariffs and global conflict. “But in agriculture, we are eternal optimists,” he said. “We look forward to the future, making plans, with the belief that a better season is up ahead. Fundamentally, we are strong, and I do believe we are set up for a great up cycle.” South Africa’s growers, he added, remain among the best in the world.

He was equally direct about the breadth of opportunity the industry offers — not only production and protection, but postharvest, plant breeding, logistics, marketing and increasingly, artificial intelligence. “One of my mentors told me: once this industry takes hold of you, it never lets you go,” he said, encouraging young people to build careers here, and to remember that agriculture is about relationships and networking. “Make use of the people you know. Ask questions. Ask for guidance.”

From bursary holder to project coordinator

Buhle Ngindi’s story is a case study in exactly that advice. Once an undergraduate Hortgro bursary holder, she is now a full-time project coordinator in Hortgro’s Economic Development division. A further Hortgro bursary took her through an MSc, which she completed cum laude, before she joined Hortgro’s mentorship programme.

It all started, she said, in 2015 — a year that set her on a very different course from the one she had originally imagined. She had considered studying medicine, until a Stellenbosch University career group visit to Babylonstoren changed her mind. “My mother couldn’t believe it. She kept asking why, and whether I was sure,” Ngindi said. “She knew I was a small-town girl with big dreams.” Her grandfather had been a livestock farmer, and in hindsight, she says, agriculture simply came naturally to her.

She remains deeply grateful to Hortgro for the opportunity. “The MSc took a lot of hard work and perseverance, but luckily I had a passion for what I was doing. Hortgro opened doors for me, but I took the opportunity. You can learn so much from this industry, and we, as the future generation, have a great responsibility.”

Curiosity, passion, purpose

Tiaan Combrinck, another Hortgro bursary holder, offered one of the evening’s most striking stories. As a child, he loved digging in the soil, studying plants and asking endless questions about how seeds grew and how plants survived. That curiosity carried him through a degree in horticulture, where he specialised in crop production and plant breeding. “Horticulture is so much more than just growing plants,” he said. “It’s conservation, food security — but it’s also about people. People growing plants that will outlive them. People investing in other people.”

For Combrinck, the Hortgro bursary was never just financial support — it was the chance to pursue his dreams and to become, in his words, the best version of himself. It also opened a network. During his final year at Elsenburg, uncertain of what would come next, he did what Hortgro encourages every young person to do: he asked for advice. He was told to call Lona Odendaal, who runs Hortgro’s mentorship programme. Her questions, he recalled, had little to do with his CV — she was trying to find the right place for a person, not simply help him land a job.

That call led him, in 2024, through the gates of Babylonstoren as an intern. “One phone call changed the direction of my life,” he said. “Invest in people — that is what Hortgro does. They believe in you before you believe in yourself.”

The internship, he said, taught him just how much he still had to learn. Early on, he decided to say more “yes” than “no,” and to expose himself to as much of the industry as possible. No lesson, he said, was ever wasted — some showed him where he wanted to be, others where he didn’t. He also joined Hortgro’s Bright Stars internship programme, which pushed him to think seriously about who he wanted to become, what motivated him, and where his strengths and weaknesses lay. Just as importantly, it taught him that it’s fine not to have life entirely mapped out. Few people do.

Working full-time at Babylonstoren, he says, no two days are the same. He joined the team that built a Karoo succulent garden for the Chelsea Flower Show in London in 2025 — an undertaking that involved shipping 30 quiver trees to the UK and moving 60 tonnes of soil and 100 tonnes of rock. It put him, quite suddenly, on a global stage, where he crossed paths with royalty and celebrities alike. He also invested in his own development with a trip to the Netherlands to study leading horticultural operations — including a 50-hectare nursery run by just two growers, powered by advanced AI systems. Closer to home, he helped build a horticulture exhibit for the G20 summit in Johannesburg.

“If someone had told me a few years ago that I’d be working with one of South Africa’s greatest botanists, taking part in Chelsea, visiting the Netherlands and exhibiting at the G20, I wouldn’t have believed them,” he said. “I got these opportunities because I stayed curious. Don’t compare your journey to others — we all take different routes, at different times. Find people who inspire you. Learn from those with experience. Every conversation can teach you and change your life. Never lose curiosity. Curiosity becomes passion, passion becomes purpose, and purpose changes lives. Stay humble. Stay growing. Enjoy the journey.”