Vegetables

We sometimes tend to make assumptions about how a crop will react without considering the survival mechanisms inherited from its wild ancestors.

When trying to predict how a crop will respond to various situations, remember that all cultivated crops originated from wild ancestors growing in competition with many other species.

A crop has no way of ‘knowing’ or ‘sensing’ your good intentions. Instead, it responds to the prevailing conditions as a means of self-preservation.

When a farmer says he has 20 years’ experience, it could mean that he has simply been doing the same thing for 20 years without ever trying anything new!

Where many farmers fall short is knowing how deep the water has penetrated after irrigation or rain.

Farmers often ask me how frequently and how much they should irrigate. There is no simple answer, as many aspects must first be considered.

We recently discussed how to identify mineral deficiencies and eelworm infestation. Many other problems can occur, of course.

Eelworm is generally considered the world’s worst crop pest.

The daily sales process is like a finely-tuned machine, and like any machine, it needs oil. In this case, that oil is communication.

Chard (Beta vulgaris) is also known as ‘Swiss chard’, ‘silver beet’, ‘mangold’ and other names. In South Africa it is usually referred to simply as ‘spinach’.

In late December, to market its Cuties mandarins, Sun Pacific introduced a marketing campaign on Snapchat, the social media messaging and imaging app.

Whitefly remains a notoriously difficult pest to control.

The early part of the year is probably a good time to remind farmers about their responsibilities when dealing with a market agent.

When spraying different pests at the same time, many farmers try to kill two birds with one stone by making elaborate mixtures.

Almost every fresh produce market in South Africa has a licensing agreement with Freshmark Systems, the providers of the industry’s dedicated IT-based sales processing system.

As pointed out previously, the key to successful pest and disease control is optimal penetration of the spray mixture.

Occupational health and safety (OHS) play a crucial role in the workplace. So much so, that the Occupational Health and Safety Act lays down a host of precise legal requirements...

There is more to a spray mixture than chemical product and water. You also need an adjuvant – a substance added to the water to enable the sprayed product to...

So today I’m offering a general optimistic comment on South Africa’s farmers that I hope will resonate with you.

All too often, I come across farmers who are not accurate enough with their sprayer calibration.