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Agricultural Officer Dereck Rogers

took over from the last expatriate 'farmer' in 1983, and is one of the most experienced Tristan islanders who lead local Departments (see Heads of Department Photograph ). Dereck leads a team who work for the Tristan Government to co-ordinate and support Tristan families in carrying out their farming activities. Activities for the Government team includes making and maintaining fences, and over-seeing stock on the Settlement Plain, Sandy Point, Stony Beach and The Caves. The Department imports new stock, seed, fertilisers and any chemicals and veterinary supplies. Dereck leads the veterinary work and so will be on call 24 hours a day to supervise calving during the season.

Potato Crop
Tristan's potato crop is grown in walled fields (left) on the Patches Plain where every family plants, tends and harvests the food which forms the staple part of the Tristan diet and fodder for livestock. Photo right shows Dereck driving a tractor with a full load of main crop potatoes home on a typical late summer Saturday trip on the island's main road covering the 2-3 km from the Patches to the Settlement.
Cattle Herd
The Agricultural Department maintains fences to control grazing, particularly around the Settlement where the land is divided into 'fences' around which the island's milking cows graze in rotation. One fence is the Settlement itself, where cattle roam around the village roads and grass verges, often straying onto lawns where gates are insecure! Another is the 'American' Fence which serves as the school playing field which restricts activities for some time after grazing! Cow ownership is limited to two per household, or one for a single householder. The herd are all crosses, served by a Hereford and a Welsh Black Cross bull. There is a small breeding herd at Stony Beach and The Caves, and about 15 steers at Sandy Point.

Pigs for successful local breeding and rearing for pork have been imported in recent years, but local fodder can be scarce. Island families keep large quantities of poultry around the Settlement and there are also some 200 ducks and 5 geese, reared for meat. Donkeys (left) grazing by the fenced off Jenny's Bog - only a few are left of a stock that were used to ride to The Patches, but today are limited as they eat valuable grass.

Published by the Tristan da Cunha Government and the Tristan da Cunha Association. Copyright © 2007 and all Rights Reserved.
This page published June 2005