Caxton Magazines
From shepherd’s son to top farmer
Niklaas Slinger, the Agricultural Writers Emerging Farmer of the Year, never went to school. He was a farmworker for the Theron family for 20 years, and when Jan Theron died, Niklaas helped his widow run the farm. When Jan’s son JP grew up he helped Niklaas buy his own farm, where he won through to become one of SA’s top 20 rooibos producers.
Barkly East’s historic holkranse
The spectacular and highly erodible sandstone caves of the Barkly East and Rhodes districts in the north Eastern Cape have been used by the district's inhabitants, from the ancient San
to today's commercial farmers, for hundreds of years. Mike Burgess visited these historic holkranse.
Why it’s time to change to sericea
The stage is set for sericea lespedeza to transform forage production in the crop growing regions of South Africa. In fact, the transformation is already under way and proving to be a great success, writes John Fair.
Transforming useless soil
If you have land on your farm with a near-zero production history, you need sericea - but it has to be the right cultivar, writes John Fair.
NWK could face R50 million fine
A Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that found Lichtenburg agricultural company NWK guilty of simulating a loan agreement with First National Bank (FNB) to increase its interest deduction for tax purposes has come as a surprise for NWK's top brass.<
Pioneer’s R12/share offer ‘ridiculous’
If farmers and others holding 35% of KWV put on a united front, they can ward off a possible buy out of the 92-year-old company by Pioneer Foods. Pioneer needs 75% of shareholders to vote in favour of the deal.
Rudles farming enterprise: A case study in cooperation
The Limpopo agriculture department brought in two small-scale chicken farmers to take over a failed land reform project. Although the farmers had only met a few times before, they work very well together, producing 42 000 chickens every cycle. Peter Mashala visited their farm outside Mokopane.
A house of straw?
An avid Farmer's Weekly reader has the opportunity to build a straw bale, self-sufficient, off-the-grid home in the Magaliesburg area. Jonno helps her out.
When the sun goes down
When your vehicle gets stuck in a swamp at sunset in game-rich country full of nocturnal predators, you better pray your torch doesn't let you down. Abre' J Steyn discovers three amazing, and reliable, torches.
Living with drought
Roelof Bezuidenhout, a Farmer's Weekly correspondent who farms near Steytlerville, is experiencing drought first-hand. He believes government will have to reconsider their drought aid if they want to keep farmers on the land, ensure food security and prevent permanent damage to natural resources.
Concentrated flavour
In the real world, where time is long and wages are low, sun-dried tomatoes are a cheerful way to deal with a tomato glut.
A small-scale success in Africa
Agricultural firm Agriterra is building up a considerable presence in Mozambique by sourcing and milling maize from 350 000 small-scale growers. This model has proved itself, and the company is growing steadily. Euan Kay, executive director of Agriterra, spoke to Robyn Joubert.
Breeding them slow & steady
Not all races are won by the sprinters, which can be knocked out of the running by adverse weather conditions.
Looking good, if not rosy
The world food outlook for the next decade is positive. South African farmers will be able to share in this, provided they're allowed and encouraged to do so.
Winning with sericea
The issues preventing more widespread acceptance of sericea among farmers have been solved - so get planting.
Chicken care: preventing diseases
This week we discuss leg and skin conditions in chickens and how to prevent them.
All-year citrus for the customer
The Van der Merwes of ALG Estates recently received the National Agricultural Writers 2010 Farmer of the Year Award. After the deregulation of agriculture, brothers All and Gerrit started marketing and exporting their own fruit, aiming to control the entire value and distribution chain from tree to customer. Gerrit Jr recently joined them. Denene Erasmus reports.
Making markets work for you
For years I've been carrying on about the importance of using a fresh-produce commission market properly if you want it to work for you, so let's take a look at how you can get the most out of one.
Don’t get caught out with downy mildew
Downy mildew is less of A problem in cabbage than it used to be. With resistant varieties available, susceptible varieties don't have to be planted in vulnerable areas any more.
How to mulch
This week we look at materials to use as organic mulch and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
