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.
Award-winning goat’s cheese from Clarens
After teaching herself cheesemaking, Estee van Aswegen entered her Baris cheeses at the South African Dairy Championships and won top of class.
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...
World-class operation profits from ethically produced pigs
In response to ever-more consumers demanding ethically produced food, Butt Farming, a large commercial pig operation in KwaZulu-Natal, is incorporating improved animal welfare practices into its processes while maximising productivity.
Land reform: speak up now!
Two important pieces of draft legislation that will shape the way that land reform in South Africa will be implemented were published recently, and are currently open for public comment.
A drought action plan for livestock farmers
Drought seems to have become a permanent part of Southern Africa’s weather patterns, but many farmers are still caught unaware, and suffer accordingly.
Time for SA farmers to cash in on the succulent boom
Nearly half of the world’s succulent species are endemic to Southern Africa. Despite this, our commercial farmers have yet to cash in on the thriving global succulent market. Glenneis Kriel...
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....
The ‘profit-for-purpose’ empowerment model
A new empowerment model championed by a Limpopo-based farming company, Schoonbee Landgoed, and Thebe Investment Corporation aims to establish long-term partnerships between white commercial farmers and black institutional investors while...
Breeding fuss-free Mutton Merino sheep
The changing climate and rising input costs are forcing farmers to find innovative ways to remain economically viable. Hugo Wiehahn, owner of Hugo Wiehahn en Seuns Mutton Merino stud near...
How to make farming pay with no land of your own
Two postgraduate students from the University of Cape Town are facilitating farming in the heart of the city, yet neither owns a sizeable piece of land. Wandile Tshabe, co-founder of...
Improve fertiliser placement with strip-tillage
According to Michael Petersen, lead agronomist at US-based Orthman Manufacturing, the main pillars of success for strip-tillage are vertical tillage, residue management, seedbed preparation and fertiliser placement. Stehan Cloete explains...
WHAT TO READ NEXT
Cannabis production could outpace demand – new report
A new report on cannabis production and trade is forecasting an increase in medical cannabis production this year, but warns that the existing small markets could leave growers with unsold...
