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Earthworms play a crucial role in improving soil quality, and every farmer should try to maintain a healthy population of these remarkable creatures.

By disrupting international supply chains, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered much debate about the need for deglobalisation. This presents an ideal opportunity for Africa to explore the regionalisation of agribusiness on the continent, writes Louis van Ravesteyn, head of Agri Business Pan Africa within the Personal and Business Banking division at Standard Bank Group.

The varying effect of the coronavirus pandemic in each country has depended entirely on the way in which its leaders have managed the process. Take note.

In a recent presentation to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee for Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform, the Auditor-General reported that the department of agriculture and related entities had R46,3 million in fruitless and wasteful expenditure in the 2019/2020 financial year.

It is not only livestock that are threatened during multi-year droughts; wildlife, too, can succumb to the stress. Dr Nora Weyer and other researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand have found that aardvarks’ feeding in the daytime during extended drought may be a sign that they are starving.

An innovative vertical growing system makes it possible to grow fresh, healthy produce without owning a plot. James Dick, the inventor of the HiGro Tower Garden System, spoke to Jeandré van der Walt about his vertical-growing method.

As mentioned in one of my previous articles polystyrene seedling trays are made by heating small polystyrene beads in a mould; they expand to fill the mould and thereby form the tray.

Deciduous teeth that are not shed can be problematic in young horses in training, warns Dr Mac

Diplodia ear rot is a notable maize disease in South Africa. Apart from causing severe damage to the crop, it can also produce a potentially fatal mycotoxicosis in cattle and sheep. It is therefore crucial that a maize producer be able to identify the disease, says Dr Belinda Janse van Rensburg, plant pathologist at the Agricultural Research Council’s Grain Crops Institute.

Brought together through necessity by severe and ongoing drought, a group of farmers from Kuruman, Northern Cape, established an unusual stokvel in 2016 to assist each other with the sharing of resources. Thapelo Kgopodithate, the founder of the Makawana Farmers’ Stokvel initiative, spoke to Siyanda Sishuba about the group’s achievements.

Hennie Hattingh is responsible for original equipment sales at the Johannesburg branch of a major Southern African tyre and tube distributor. Stehan Cloete spoke to him about the effect of tyre pressure and tractor ballasting on fuel efficiency and productivity.

As part of an animal’s stress response, its body releases cortisol, a hormone that provides energy to help the animal escape the stressor. If the stress persists, however, the animal’s health will suffer.