Investing in lucerne pays off for western Free State farmer
Lucerne under irrigation provides Free State farmer Boeboe Louw with an ideal alternative to grain. Annelie Coleman visited him on his farm in the Wesselsbron district to find out how...
Butternuts: know your market and maintain quality
Butternuts are a reasonably easy crop to grow, with few in soluble problems. The real challenge is to match the cultivar with the market. Mpumalanga-based producer Francois Steyn spoke to...
Value adding and ecotourism boost small blackberry farm
The owner of a small farm has to find innovative ways to remain financially viable. Natalie Turck of Wildebraam Berry Estate spoke to Glenneis Kriel about how she and her...
Ensuring that seed is disease-free
Planting seed infected by a bacterial disease could lead to complete crop failure. Rather pay more for the seed, if necessary, to ensure that it is clean. Consider the extra...
Insects: know your friends from your foes
Hannelene Badenhorst, a PhD candidate in entomology at the University of the Free State, explains the value of differentiating beneficial insects and other arthropods from harmful ones before resorting to...
Using nitrogen as an accelerator
Of all the elements, nitrogen has the most profound effect on a crop, and this is why you need to use it wisely.
Earthworms to the rescue on degraded sugar cane land
With sugar cane being a perennial crop that is ploughed out and replanted only after a number of years, the soil in which it grows can suffer as a result...
The long, hard road to profiting from potatoes
In 1998, at the age of 45, Frans Vlok left his job as head of Kynoch fertiliser services in the Western Cape to pursue his lifelong dream of farming full-time....
Planting and harvesting green beans
Visual appeal plays a major role in the breeding of beans. Darker green, slender, straight beans have become more popular of late.
Save money on chemicals
Farmers often ask for pest control programmes for their crops. They see them as a form of insurance. Is this justified? In a word, no!
Wheat producers, treat fungicides with caution!
South African wheat producers should guard against over-application of fungicide, according to Dr Tarekegn Terefe, senior researcher at ARC-Small Grain, Bethlehem. The unnecessary use of fungicides can harm the environment...
Try the new Polysulphate fertiliser
Polysulphate® is a new, multi-nutrient fertiliser that has been introduced to South Africa by ICL Fertilizers.
ADVERTISEMENT
MUST READS
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
