••••
IN T H E SP OTLI GH T
Paul
Maré
has a partner in Senwes at Viljoenskroon
Two of Paul Maré's Bonsmara stud bulls at Vlakvlei.
PAUL MARÉ IS REALLY A PROGRESSIVE FARMER AND
TO TOP IT ALL, A STAUNCH SUPPORTER OF SENWES. IN
ACTUAL FACT, SENWES IS HIS PARTNER.
AUBREY KRUGER
PAUL'S HISTORY
Paul has been involved in the
Viljoenskroon community for
almost all of his life. He was born
in the district in 1953, attended
school here and matriculated at
Salomon Senekal High School in
1970.
AGRICULTURE IS IN HIS BLOOD
Paul went to the army for a year,
where he completed a leadership
course in Heidelberg, and was sta-
tioned in Potchefstroom thereafter.
His life made a turn in the engi-
neering world and he obtained
his B.Sc B.Eng-degree in 1976
at the University of Stellenbosch,
and his honours degree a year
later. He worked as civil engineer
20
in Kroonstad for seven years and
worked for agricultural engineers
in Pretoria, where he handled
irrigation, dam building and water
drainage projects in the Highveld
and in the Western Cape.
FAMILY
He married Jeanette in 1985,
who unfortunately passed away
in 1996. He has three children,
namely Erik (29), Silizna (31) and
dad’s namesake Paula (18), who is
currently in matric.
The daughters are not involved
in agriculture, but they are all
crazy about animals. They are also
excellent horse riders. However,
Erik is the one who will take over
the farming operations. He has
been farming since September
2016 and, like his father, he
APRIL/MAY 2017 • SENWES Scenario
explored a different field first - he
has a legal background. He fol-
lowed in his grandfather’s foot-
steps by becoming an attorney. He
studied B.Com and LLB and this
has been his first year in agricul-
ture. Erik currently farms on the
neighbouring farm Glenmore.
THE BEGINNING
Paul started to farm on a
500-hectare farm, Limerick, at
Skandinawiëdrif, approximately
40km from his current farm,
Vlakvlei, where he farmed from
1983 to 1995. He even planted
kiwi-fruit under irrigation. He
increased his farming operations
by expanding his farming opera-
tions to the family farm, Vlakvlei
(480 hectares) in 1990. He farmed
on both farms for the next five
years and at the end of this period,
in 1994, he bought Vlakvlei from
his father, Frikkie, and over time
he obtained additional land in
the area. He has approximately
5 000 hectares at present, 2 500