Crops

Bill Kerr explains the different types of seedling trays available to vegetable producers. They vary in type of material and shape of cavities.

Vegetable farmer Sophy Litshani Musabeni doesn’t miss an opportunity to broaden her knowledge on agriculture. Doing her own research and speaking to those in the know, she has catapulted herself from a small-scale emerging farmer to a commercial success in just seven years.

Whether older seedlings will be productive depends on their size and age, and with seed prices going up, one needs to think carefully before throwing out plants that could still be productive.

The biggest obstacle that ginger farmers in South Africa face is securing enough land to allow for at least a four-year rest period before replanting the same land to the crop. Limpopo farmer Ika Cronjé spoke to Lindi Botha about how she solved this problem by turning to hydroponic production.

Seedlings should vary according to the season. Bill Kerr shares how he learnt this vital lesson, and offers tips on how to harden seedlings.

Garlic can be prone to bacterial and fungal diseases, and it’s important that farmers are proactive in preventing infection and practise appropriate management.

Bill Kerr explains how bean common mosaic virus and bean yellow mosaic virus can infect a field and spread, leading to major crop losses.

Avocado production in South Africa has expanded markedly since the industry’s humble beginnings over 80 years ago. From a small grove planted in 1938 in what was then Nelspruit, the industry has blossomed to seven million trees planted on 20 000ha. Dr Guy Witney, project manager at Great Brak Avos, spoke to Annelie Coleman about the country’s avocado production.

A germination chamber set at about 25°C leads to a high germination percentage and shortens the time span before seedlings are placed out in the nursery, saving the grower money.

Inexperienced farmers may be tempted to grow seedlings from seed themselves, but they have much to gain by trusting a seedling grower at a nursery to perform this task for them instead, advises Bill Kerr.

Instead of buying expensive growing mediums for seedlings, farmers can make their own mixtures from local resources, such as manure, which are economical and produce excellent results.

Zander Spammer, an agricultural resource manager at Southern Oil, spoke to Zunel van Eeden about the growth of the canola industry in South Africa and the main uses for this versatile crop.

Growing cherries in a suboptimal climate requires manipulating trees and temperatures. But with a considerable market advantage, it is worth the effort. Lindi Botha visited ZZ2’s Toscana farm, which for four weeks of the year takes prime position in the cherry market.

So-called experts often tell farmers what the problems are with their crops without being sure and just hoping for the best when suggesting solutions. Rather use your own experience to figure out the cause, says Bill Kerr.

Macadamia farming is a long-term investment that could keep paying off for decades to come if a solid foundation has been laid. Farmer Johan Swanepoel spoke to Lindi Botha about establishing new orchards, and the benefits to be reaped from managing soil health from the start.

In today’s agricultural playing field, the focus is being directed at sustainably producing crops for a growing world population. Concepts like ensuring food security, soil quality and fertility, nutritional value of crops, and environmental impact on the natural resources are the order of the day.

The decision of what to plant should be based on average market prices in the long term, which enables vegetable growers to calculate what the market price fluctuations will be, says Bill Kerr.

Blueberries have been identified as an ideal crop for boosting agriculture’s contribution to South Africa’s gross domestic product. Given the labour-intensive nature of this crop and its lucrative export market, investing in it was an obvious choice for Pan African Resources and Primocane Capital as a means of supporting rural communities near Barberton in Mpumalanga.

It is one thing to have a good product, but we need to bring its outstanding features to the attention of the purchaser, writes Bill Kerr.

In 2019, dairy farmer Jonathan Willows and his business partner, Laine Collett, launched a pineapple operation on a dairy farm in the Eastern Cape. They spoke to Mike Burgess about why and how they rebooted a once-successful pineapple farm to set them up to produce 7 000t of the Cayenne variety a year.