Growing up on Mooigezicht Estates in the Western Cape’s Hex River Valley, Francois Rossouw Jnr, now 31, always knew he wanted to farm – just like his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather before him.
During school holidays, he relished helping on the family’s table grape farm. After finishing high school, he prepared for his future by studying agricultural economics at Stellenbosch University, then spent eight months gaining international market exposure, visiting key table grape destinations in the EU, East Asia, and the UK.
He also spent three months in California, US, working at a leading cultivar development company, where he was introduced to the latest global trends in table grape breeding, before his dad, Francois Rossouw Snr – himself the Western Cape Farmer of the Year in 2014 – invited him to join Mooigezicht as a farm manager.
