The Armchair Farmer
My name is Hugh Goble and I’m “The Armchair Farmer”. I live on the farm LeoKop (Lion’s Head) near Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. If you’d like to see where I live here are the co-ordinates – 27°57’42.04″S 29°52’15.95″E. Cut and paste these into Google Earth (or other map program).
After graduating in Agricultural Management in 1980 I have had a varied career. Ranging from farming (dairy, beef, mutton, poultry, and sugar) to consulting, manufacturing, and mining. After my first farming effort I drifted into development agriculture as an economist and then into agribusiness. I spent 3 great years with the second largest poultry producer and processor in South Africa where I discovered an aptitude for computers.
I’ve spent the next 21 years working in a variety of manufacturing and mining companies providing assistance with their buisiness software systems. I’m now trying to withdraw from this and prepare for the “golden years” by starting a new farming venture. This one will be different!
My return to the world of farming and agriculture after a long break has been an “eye opener”. Changes, particularly in marketing systems, have introduced serious challenges. Someone “moved our cheese” and we need to do things differently in order to meet these new challenges.
It was Albert Einstein who said
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
