Caxton Magazines
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].
SA BIOFUEL INDUSTRY: do we have what it takes?
Maize farmers hope to sell their surpluses to the biofuel industry. A study has shown SA's maize belt in North West and the Free State is an ideal location for biofuel plants, because it provides a secure feedstock supply in the vicinity of feedlots and fuel refineries.
Steadfast ‘Oom Pietman’ retires
' …he has played a part in
many important milestones in the local agricultural industry.
Fighting cross-border stock theft: making a way of a will
Feeling let down by government policing efforts, a group of farmers in rural KwaZulu-Natal have established their own innovative and successful system to fight stock theft between the province and neighbouring Lesotho. Lloyd Phillips braved chilly weather and very rough roads to bring you this report.
KZN Midlands seeks disaster status after fires
'It was estimated that 80 farmers and 8 000 farmworkers in the Midlands were affected.'
Issue date 13 July 2007
Issue date 13 July 2007
Tools for crop farmers
At a recent course on biological farming, presented by Nutri-Tech Solutions, Wilma den Hartigh found out about valuable tools used to measure soil pH and brix levels, and plant sap extractors for monitoring plant health, as well as why more farmers are using foliar feeds.
Environmental disaster looms at Loskop Dam
According to environmentalists, researchers and farmers in the area surrounding Loskop Dam in Mpumalanga, dead fish and crocodiles at the dam's inflow are the first signs of a looming tragedy.
Weaner input costs override profits
It will cost a Limpopo cattle farmer about R12,75/kg to produce a weaner, which will be sold for about R12/kg on average.
Orange spuds feeding the nation
In South Africa's rural areas children have alarmingly low levels of vitamin A, which can result in infections, blindness and even death. To combat this critical deficiency, researchers suggest the cultivation of the beta-carotene-enriched, orange-fleshed sweet potato, which is hardy and well adapted to South African conditions, thus making it ideal for cultivation in poor rural areas. Cornelia du Plooy reports.
Animal rightists
Notice has been given that A a referendum will occur in a month's time. A growing number of elderly lions, leopards and hyenas have found it increasingly difficult to hunt successfully.
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