Crops

In the deeply rural area of OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, a fruit tree project is changing lives. Jaco Visser visited a farmer who is benefiting.

South African kiwi fruit growers can lift yields by following best management practices, as well as by exploring new high-yielding gold varieties. Robyn Joubert reports.

Potatoes have to be ridged and lifted. These two operations can be troublesome with certain clay soil, especially when the weather doesn’t play along.

Sports medicine expert Dr Tim Noakes caused a minor flurry recently when he referred to the exclusion of carbohydrates, which includes potatoes, in an athlete’s diet.

How does maize seed breeding in South Africa work? Annelie Coleman visited Pannar’s research facility in Klerksdorp and spoke to seed breeders Dr Willie Venter and Chris van Zyl to find out more.

While many emerging farmers usually battle to survive, being thrown in the deep end helped organic farmer Jimmy Ka-Botha to succeed. Today he supplies Woolworths and Pick n Pay. Peter Mashala visted him.

Potatoes are an amazing crop. The amount of nutrients produced on a hectare of potatoes is staggering. It’s virtually a complete food, with a high nutritional content and a good balance of these nutrients.

Some market agents believe BEE agencies operating on markets are solely responsible for assisting and promoting small-scale farmers.

If you want lands free of weeds, herbicides must be used properly. The first principle is timing.

I regularly attack politicians and their bedfellows, and highlight the damage they’re causing to SA’s fresh produce markets.

There are a number of particularly bad weed species which can be tough and costly to deal with once established.

Hendri Jansen van Rensburg is the latest farmer to join the ranks of the Free State Young Farmers of the Year. At 35 he just made the cut-off age for the competition, but his unassuming nature by no means detracts from his farming skills. Determined and brimming with positivity, Hendri fully deserves the title. Lindi van Rooyen reports.