Caxton Magazines
Lime application in no-till
In recent years, no-till farming practices have been implemented on an ever-growing scale. As a result, many no-till farmers have adopted the common practice of surface-applying all their required soil amendments. This allows stratification of nutrients and acidity at surface level.
Issue Date 18 May 2007
Issue Date 18 May 2007
Controlling diseases under no-till
Issue Date: 7 October 2005
Validating no-till in KZN
Early experimentation with no-till in KZN was done by farmers themselves. Now soil scientists from the University of Tennessee visit to learn from their experience. Lloyd Phillips reports.
Issue Date:4 May 2007
Issue Date:4 May 2007
The art of tree extraction
Today Vincent van Gogh is one of the most famous artists of all time. But he died in poverty. I can't really judge his art, but recently some of his works sold for several hundred million dollars each. During his lifetime, however, he only managed to sell one painting. There are still people like him around.
Food to make a long life worth living
Eat pasta. Live forever.
Stress in endurance rides
Competitive long-distanc e riding tests the stamina of both horse and rider.
Give your seedling transplant TLC
From emergence to pulling, seedling growers spend five to eight weeks providing their seedlings with daily care. Farmers usually provide good care once the transplants are planted and irrigated, but there is a weak link - transplanting.
The Bradburys’ racing methods
Last week I wrote about the champion stock of Bradbury Lofts, and this week's article focuses on their racing methods.
‘Agricultural marketing needs a fresh mindset’
Ronald Ramabulana, CEO of the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) talks about the stagnation in exporting and local markets, the lack of research and young blood in agriculture, and setting up a database of emerging farmers to streamline land reform. Cornelia du Plooy reports.
Perspective on the Bfap baseline projections
'There is still a lot of misunderstanding about the proper way to use baseline projections in future planning.'
Taking South African farming to the stratosphere
Gesie van Deventer - Female Farmer of the Year in 2002, also named top female exporter and overall Farmer of the Year in 2003 - called on farmers to make a mindshift concerning land reform at the Canning Fruit Producers Association's annual meeting that was recently held in Worcester.
Inventing a better mousetrap
The American writer and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, said, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door!” Indefatigable inventor Bertus Goosen from Botswana believes he has done just that with his ingenious “muisval” that won him first prize in Category D: Household Equipment, in the Boerepatente Kompetisie at the recent Nampo Show. Here are some of the other entries that caught Joe Spencer's eye.
New top cultivars at Nampo
Seed breeders and suppliers provided colourful and informative exhibition stands yet again at Nampo Harvest Day 2007. In this week, we introduce you to some new champions in the field of maize cultivars and other seed varieties. Peter Hittersay did the rounds of suppliers' stands and reports on the new 2007 releases and the claims for each cultivar.
Sizwe’s stud success
In 1994 Sizwe Manjezi acquired some 900ha near Peddie in the Eastern Cape to expand his family tradition of cattle farming. Even though he's at the helm of a respected Bonsmara stud today, he's still struggling to obtain a title deed from the Eastern Cape Department of Land Affairs. Mike Burgess tells how this farmer went from communal to commercial against all odds.
Lowveld school farms for its orphans
Mzinti primary school in rural Mpumalanga is not only growing its own food using eco-friendly techniques, but has started farming chickens and teaching other schools to grow food too.
Consumers want it quick and easy
According to the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (Bfap)'s June 2007 to 2012 agricultural baseline, SA consumers are showing increasing interest in convenience food purchasing and consumption.
HUNTING is not the culprit
Ron Thomson has written a refreshing and hard-hitting book to remind hunters, game ranchers and ordinary nature lovers where they fit into the bigger conservation picture. Roelof Bezuidenhout reviews a book that pulls no punches.
Heuningkrans Stud: a South African legacy
In only 32 years Smithfield Merino farmer Eddie Prinsloo has increased the ewe crop on Heuningkrans Stud from 500 to about 2 000, and in February this year at its sale, Heuningkrans achieved an average price per ram of R7 300 - the highest average price ever achieved by a single Merino breeder in South Africa. Gavin Isted writes.
Good prices won’t last, foresters warned
Members of NCT Forestry Cooperative Limited, which markets timber produced by private and independent timber growers, has been cautioned not to assume that the current shortage of all categories of timber in South Africa, which has resulted in high prices for these products, will persist in the long term.
Activists call for ban on pasture grasses
'Sansor notes that neither kikuyu nor rye grass could pose a threat [to biodiversity].
