Women in Agriculture: Georgina Hewitt

Georgie Hewitt is a director of Verdun and Vice-Chairperson of Hortgro Stone. She spoke to Jenny Underhill about her education and work experience, joining the family business, and her experience of being a woman in agriculture.

Hewitt grew up in Verdun, in Prince Alfred Hamlet, as the third of four children. She attended the local primary school, Laerskool FD Conradie, then joined Rustenburg Girl’s High School in Cape Town as a boarder. A self-described “all-rounder”, she was involved in sport, the catering club and the school newspaper.

“I was 17 when I finished school. Although I thought I wanted to go into farming, I was still a little unsure, so I decided to do a BCom at Stellenbosch University. My final-year subjects were logistics and transport economics,” said Hewitt. During her student years, Hewitt worked most December holidays in the packhouse on Verdun. There was always something happening, and she grew to love the fast pace of the work.

Early work experience in the UK

In 2005, Hewitt was in her final year at Stellenbosch University. Annelie Haumann – who at the time was the head of stone fruit at Colors Fruit – contacted her to ask if she would be interested in working for them in quality control.

“When I told her I’d planned to apply for a visa to work in the UK, she asked me if I’d do it for just one season to give them a little bit more time to look for a suitable candidate for the position,” explained Hewitt, “Besides offering me my first job, Annelie had an enormous impact on the start of my career and I learned so much from her.” Hewitt started work for Colors the day after finishing her university exams.

A few weeks later, Hewitt saw an internal email that advertised a quality control position at Colors Fruit in the UK. She got the position, finished the stone fruit season in South Africa, and flew to Liverpool. Her new role had two components: sorting out quality control issues at supermarkets with direct contracts with Colors Fruit, and performing quality control checks on containers when they arrived at a depot near Liverpool.

“Whenever department heads from South Africa went over to the UK, I’d pick them up from the train station or the airport and take them to their meetings. I was able to sit in on those meetings and consequently got to know many people in the industry and observed how negotiations were done.”

After 18 months, Hewitt was promoted to technical manager for the UK. She left Liverpool and moved south to Chatteris to join the Colors Fruit UK office. “I learned so much about the fruit industry during my time in the UK. It was a great start to my life and career.”

Joining the family business
In 2008, Hewitt was offered a UK-based position at Cape Span International, but eventually declined it. “I phoned my parents to tell them, and my dad said to me that if I still wanted to come back to the farm, now would be a good time. Verdun were installing more sophisticated machinery in the packhouse, and he didn’t think he was going to cut it!”

After resigning from her position at Colors Fruit UK – and an additional six weeks of backpacking around Europe – she joined the family business in 2008. She started as a line manager and, as the business grew, became packhouse manager. Her parents, Adrian and Lesley Wolfaardt, slowly started reducing their roles on the farm, and Hewitt expanded her own.

Hewitt now farms Verdun Estates with her older brother, Peter Wolfaardt. It is one of the oldest farms in Prince Alfred Hamlet and has been in the family for four generations. The farm’s focus has narrowed over the years to predominantly stone fruit and pears, but the business has expanded since the siblings joined. They currently run six farming units on seven farms, a packhouse at Verdun, and a second pre-packing facility.

“I’m so thankful to be farming with my brother. I love working with him, and we even choose to share an office. We have different passions and strengths, but we complement each other.”

Hewitt appreciates that her job is varied and that no day is the same. It is constantly evolving as she appoints new staff, passes tasks on to someone else, learns new skills, and takes on new responsibilities. The two pack houses, the HR department, marketing and the finance department all report to her. She is also involved in IT and production, and won’t shy away from climbing under a pack line with a spanner in her hand. She says that working with people is so rewarding, although it can be difficult at times.

“I don’t always go with the flow. I think I sometimes frustrate people because I ask difficult questions. I don’t believe that one should ever just accept things. Just because something’s been done a certain way for a long time doesn’t mean it can’t be improved. It gives me energy to be involved in changing things for the better, whether it is a system on the computer or how we do wages.”

Women in agriculture

Hewitt says her parents had an amazing ability to make their children believe that they could do absolutely anything. “In our house, there was never a distinction between what a man could do and what a woman could do. My parents were partners in business and in life.”

Hewitt realises that she and Danell du Toit (Vice-chair Hortgro Pome) are uniquely positioned at Hortgro. Hewitt and du Toit are often the only women at industry meetings. “I sometimes have to remind myself that the feeling of being alone or outnumbered just shows my own insecurity. I don’t think any of the men at those meetings feel that I don’t own a place at the table.”

“If I look around, there are many amazing women involved in agriculture in the fields of marketing and science, but there are fewer women in production. I think it’s one of those things that will take time to shift, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to force it. I think that men and women are different but can complement each other. Maybe women bring a softer side to agriculture,” said Hewitt.

Personal life

Hewitt is married to Vincent Hewitt, a marketing manager at Dutoit Vegetables. Although he grew up in Ceres – and they had friends in common – they didn’t meet until she came back to Prince Alfred’s Hamlet after her time in the UK. “I’m a doer, so I will take on more and more. I am often stressed out because I have a lot of things on my plate, and he’s always supportive,” said Hewitt.

“I’m being quite honest when I say I don’t have any spare time,” laughed Hewitt, “I love spending time with my kids. I don’t have much time for it at the moment, but I enjoy baking, cooking and entertaining friends at our home. I’m involved with the Sunday school, and I love nature, hiking and birdwatching.”

They have two children who attend the same local primary school that Hewitt attended, which feels very special to her. Although they are still very young, she hopes that some of her and her brother’s kids will one day join them in the business.

Caption: Georgie pictured here with brother Peter Wolfaardt on Verdun