Lien du Preez is a supervisor on Ruben Barnard’s farms, producing first-grade broccoli and cauliflower all year round. Her daily responsibilities include leading teams in the field, responsible for the whole growing process from planting to harvesting broccoli and cauliflower all year round.
Lien was born at the foot of the Jonkersberg near George and has been in vegetable production for 35 years of which more than 20 years have been with Brassicaceae.
Her teams mainly consist of women and she believes that they are ideal for this type of work. She states that one needs to crouch a lot when planting and harvesting the broccoli and cauliflower and women are able to do this. “The men in the field are stronger and they help to carry the seedling trays during planting and the harvest to the bins during harvesting, but the women have endurance and their working tempo exceeds the men”, she tells.
She mentions that it such a privilege to have a job, no matter what that job is, you have a means to generate and income. She loves being able to work outside in the open. “Sometimes the sun and weather conditions is a bit challenges, but the vastness and the beauty of this area makes up for that”, she says. The biggest satisfaction to Lien is to know where the broccoli and cauliflower that they plant with precision, nurture while it grows and harvest then goes.