Vegetables

I always remind the market agents whom I train that when it comes to marketing options, they are one of eight available to a farmer.

Green and dry beans are the same species, Phaseolus vulgaris. The scarlet runner (P.coccineus) which is still popular in many countries as a home garden variety, is a different species...

Agriculture has never been considered a ‘sexy’ career choice for young people. So full marks must go to the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) for its initiative, launched a few years...

Recently, I read an interesting article entitled ‘The Bathsheba Syndrome: the ethical failure of successful leaders,’ by Dean Ludwig and Clinton Longenecker.

Many of the techniques described for cabbage and cauliflower apply to broccoli.

In the 1940s, there were about 135 fresh produce markets scattered around South Africa. Almost every dorp had a market.

Growing cauliflower is very similar to growing cabbage. Nevertheless, there are some important points that need to be considered to ensure successful production of cauliflower.

Farmers around the world use some form of co-operative marketing to sell their fresh fruit and vegetables.

As if a cabbage farmer does not have enough to contend with, a destructive new disease is currently doing the rounds.

A senior manager at a large market said to me the other day that market managers (MMs) “need to get out of their fancy offices and on to the market...

Reliability, performance and tradition in one unique lamp.

A pathological condition in plants is caused by disease, whereas a physiological condition is caused by non-living (abiotic) factors such as physical injury, frost, water stress or something similar.

Some pundits maintain that our fresh produce markets are over-regulated. I confess that I cannot make up my mind on the issue.

It is very important to recognise and correct mineral deficiencies as soon as the first signs appear. Any delay is likely to have a profound influence on yield.

Act 12 of 1992, which regulates market agents, places strong emphasis on what a market agent may and may not do with a producer’s money.

White blister (Albugo candida) is also sometimes referred to as white rust.

We have to face facts: politics plays a disproportionate role in fresh produce markets. I use the word ‘disproportionate’ because what politics contributes in perceived benefits is far outweighed by...

Clubroot is an extremely serious disease; if it gets into your lands, it can destroy the entire crop.

Many small-scale and other farmers seem to believe the only way to sell their fruit or vegetables is directly to a supermarket or wholesale buyer.

In my initial 12 years of cabbage farming I never came across Sclerotinia. I had encountered it in beans before, but never cabbage.