Farmer's Weekly 18 March 2016

TOURISM CAN BECOME ONE OF THE MOST PROFITABLE VENTURES ON ANY FARM Agritourism is by no means a new concept, but it is perhaps a business opportunity that too few South African farmers have seriously considered. One does not need to own an historic Cape wine farm or a ‘Big Five’ game farm to present an attractive breakaway option for visitors. Location does matter, and being situated within about 200km of an urban area will count in your favour. However, keep in mind that when weary city folk want to spend some time away from the busy metropolis, it might just be that an isolated location is what they’re looking for. In this week’s issue of Farmer’s Weekly, we offer a special focus on agritourism (see pg 40 to pg…

“The first national analysis of the potential climate change impact on South Africa’s diverse flora and fauna was carried out in the late 1990s. In it, it was projected that the western half of the country would become much hotter and drier, and the succulent Karoo biome, and the northern half of the fynbos biome, would all but disappear. These predictions were so catastrophic that the potential climate change impact on biodiversity began to be explored worldwide. ACTUAL CHANGES Two decades later, South African scientists have produced a report summarising actual changes in these biomes. Using photographic evidence as well as repeated surveys, researchers have documented major changes in the country’s ecosystems. But the changes are not what were expected. The succulent Karoo has remained remarkably stable and fynbos shows…

‘SAVORY HUBS PRACTISE HOLISTIC MANAGMENT BASED ON SOLID SCIENCE ’ Fifty years of developing a solution Allan Savory, via Farmer’s Weekly website I read the article and Dr John Carter’s paper in the hope that some new information may emerge, but there was nothing new. The author states, “holistic management is founded on the principle of moving large herds of animals in tight groups across a grassland”. No, holistic management is founded on the principle of holism first expounded by General Jan Smuts in Holism and Evolution in 1926. As Einstein stated, two concepts would play a great role in the future of humanity – his own relativity concept and the holism of Smuts. Dr Carter is correct about the abundant evidence documenting the damage to plants and land under…

The news article “Marula factory to uplift northern Zululand residents” (FW, 4 March) refers. In these days of doom and drought, I found Lloyd Phillips’s short article on the proposed marula factory rather cheering. There has always been much to commend African tree crops and their derivatives over ‘field-grown produce’ since the former, if properly established and managed, are much less vulnerable to El Niño and other climatic nastiness. So, good luck to this particular venture, in the hope that it will indeed produce commercial quantities of jam, beer, destoned fruit – and brandy! In addition, it may well be that the expressible kernel oil could prove of great use and value. There are two small points worth raising, though: • Of all fruit trees, marula seems to exhibit a…

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FINDING THE PERFECT RAM WAS DIFFICULT 10 MARCH 2000 Angoras – breeding for profit 16 YEARS AGO GT and Werner Ferreira, owners of Snyberg Angora Stud, received international accolades for their speciality mohair in 1999. Surprised by the suddenness of their success, the brothers remained focused on breeding. “To brothers ‘GT’ and Werner Ferreira, their performance at last year’s International Angora Show, held in Beaufort West, was very important. They were awarded many championship titles for both goats and mohair, one of which was Best Goat on Show. “Snyberg’s success lies in the power of their principal ideas: breed first, and then round off; concentrate on the quality and purity of hair, and then on the goat in general; breed according to market demand; and strive for high reproduction under…