Table of contents for 10 February 2017 in Farmer's Weekly

It is the job of the media to allow the free flow of information, to remain impartial and to not allow information to affect us in any way that may lead to bias. But journalists are human too and every now and then I read something that just makes my blood boil. I struggle to remain unaffected when I hear or read about how those in power distort the facts in an attempt to hold onto power, and when elected officials start acting as if the people are there to serve them, instead of the other way round. Land reform is an emotional topic for many South Africans and politicians exploit this to score cheap political points. But no two things can be further removed from each other than what…

CONFERENCES & EXPOS 17 FEBRUARY Wheat Indaba, Pretoria. Phone Lizbé Esterhuizen on 012 807 3002, or email lizbe@agbizgrain.co.za. 21 FEBRUARY Wheat Indaba, Elsenburg. Phone Lizbé Esterhuizen on 012 807 3002, or email lizbe@agbizgrain.co.za. COURSES & TRAINING 6 TO 9 FEBRUARY Artificial Insemination/ Semen Collection in Pigs, George. Phone Di Rothman on 082 772 1208, or visit www.rltsafrica.com. 6 TO 9 FEBRUARY Three-day Basic Conservation Agriculture Course, Meadowdale. Phone Neill Jackson on 082 407 6774, or email neill@foundationsforfarming.org. 6 TO 10 FEBRUARY Introduction to Poultry Production, Irene. Phone Annetjie Loubser on 012 672 9153 or email aloubser@arc.agric.za. 9 TO 14 FEBRUARY Commercial Gourmet Mushroom Cultivation, Cape Town. Phone Adriaan Smit on 082 749 8553, or visit www.mushroomacademy.co.za. 10 TO 11 FEBRUARY Registration Course for Artificial Insemination in Pigs, George. Phone Di…

THERE IS A LOT OF MISDIRECTION GOING ON Before starting this column, I looked for agricultural news that offered a positive outlook. The best I could do in the end was the following quote by Bernard Clive: “The good news is that every morning we have the choice; not to be controlled by circumstances nor our past but by purposely designing our day.” I’ll be returning to this observation, but for now, as they say, in other news… The Reserve Bank has left interest rates unchanged as inflation remains relatively high (actually, it’s climbing). The benchmark repo rate (the rate at which the central bank lends money to banks) remains at 7%. The prime lending rate at which banks lend money to customers remains at 10,5%. The forecast for growth…

Dairy farmers from Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Lithuania left the European Union (EU) headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, as white as snow on 23 January after spraying it with a ton of powdered milk. According to Germany’s public international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, the farmers used a powerful spray gun mounted on a tractor. They were protesting a drop in milk prices. The decline came after the EU changed the milk quota system in April 2015, allowing for an increase in production at a time when sanctions against Russia had created an oversupply. To stabilise the market, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, purchased large quantities of skimmed milk powder. Then, in November, after prices had improved, it said that it would sell 22 500t, or 6% of the…

The Groot Marico River continues to be under threat from contamination by raw sewage and other untreated water emanating from the Reboile Township in North West’s Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality (NMMDM). This is many years after more than 600 low-cost houses were built to establish this township, despite no wastewater treatment works (WWTW) first having been built. Over the seven years since the WWTW was first proposed, various parties, including organised agriculture, environmental groups, private contractors and concerned residents, have all repeatedly expressed concerns that this situation was putting a critically important freshwater resource, as well as downstream water users, at risk of being negatively affected by untreated effluent. The construction of a WWTW for Reboile has been beset by allegations of government and municipal maladministration and corruption, political…

Fall armyworm infestations in South Africa have not yet been confirmed, according to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). Suspected outbreaks have been reported in Limpopo, North West and the Free State. The Agricultural Research Council and North-West University have collected specimens of the suspected fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) larvae for identification by a taxonomist. However, the species could be positively identified only at adult stage, according to a DAFF statement. The larvae fed in the whorl of the leaves, and larger larvae could even cut through the base of plants. Mature plants’ reproductive structures were also attacked. Early in the season, severe feeding damage could kill young plants. Fall armyworm was reported in West Africa in 2016, and it was thought to have arrived on the continent…

It is still too early to predict whether raisin production will recover to normal levels this year, according to Dappie Smit, manager of Dried Fruit Technical Services. However, current market conditions were looking good, with a healthy balance between supply and demand, and favourable prices were therefore expected, Smit said. Last year, production declined from 60 000t in 2015 to 50 000t due to a heatwave in December 2015, followed by untimely rain in 2016, he said. “The quality of raisins in general was also negatively affected by rain during the drying [process], resulting in a lot more rejections than usual.” Whereas production conditions had been favourable in most parts of the Northern Cape so far this year, rainfall in the Groblershoop area during January had resulted in berries bursting.…

ON A HOT DAY, A 10M X 30M TUNNEL CAPTURES MORE THAN 10 000KWH OF HEAT ENERGY, EQUIVALENT TO BURNING 150L OF DIESEL As every farmer knows, black frost can wipe out a crop overnight. Now a new simplified technology designed to protect crops from far more extreme winter conditions than those encountered in South Africa is available here. Rather than using fuel or electricity to prevent frost damage, it uses latent heat – the heat released when water freezes. The operating principle is to maintain a thin film of water on the crop. This forms a small igloo around the buds when the temperature reaches freezing point, releasing latent heat that protects the buds against frost damage. Pure water freezes at 0°C. Plant sap, which contains dissolved compounds in…

WHEN THEY DISCOVERED THAT THE NEW PRODUCT COULD NOT READILY BE SOLD ONLINE, THEY REJECTED IT Have you ever watched the reality show Shark Tank on television? It’s the South African version of Dragon’s Den, with entrepreneurs pitching their ideas to a panel of business moguls looking to invest in potentially lucrative concepts or inventions. These range from cosmetics, medical equipment, hand tools and clothing to computer games and even a method of building large modular buildings. Some of these products and their production processes are ingenious. But if there is not a well-researched basis for confidence that the product or service will sell, the investors flatly refuse to get involved. So obvious, isn’t it? This is such a fundamental requirement for business success, yet all too often one sees…

LARGER DROPLET SIZE Fine water droplets are easily carried away by the wind and evaporate rapidly, wasting many litres of water. Larger, relatively uniform droplets, by contrast, are less susceptible to wind drift and evaporation. It therefore makes sense to upgrade to sprinkler heads that distribute droplets like these. They maintain the sprinkler’s pattern in adverse weather conditions, and are not so large as to disrupt soil structure. In addition, when less water is lost, the sprinklers can run for shorter intervals, saving on water and energy. LOWER PRESSURES Low-pressure sprinkler heads (0,7 to 1,7 bars) reduce pumping demands without significantly reducing flow, so crops can continue to receive an adequate volume of water. Energy savings vary depending on the specific irrigation system, but growers can expect to see savings…

Dorper Champions White Dorper Champions Boer Goat Champions Appaloosa National Champions Contacts: Nico Binneman: +264 63 261 012 | Mbaroro Katjiunjo: +264 81 283 6296 Dirkie van der Merwe: +264 81 261 0007 | Dirk Louw: +264 63 283 319 or +264 81 311 0803. Contacts: Elize and Willie Cilliers: +264 63 683 330 | Pieter Hugo: +264 81 127 8522 | Japie Coetzee: +264 81 236 9887 | Martin Wiese: +264 81 227 2378…

OIL RADISH WILL CONTROL CYST NEMATODES, BUT NEVER LESION NEMATODES, EVEN OVER TIME Eelworm is generally considered the world’s worst crop pest. There are a number of species to contend with; the common root knot genera (Melodogyne spp.) are easy to identify as the nematode enters the root and causes a round, even swelling. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria on legumes can also cause lumps on roots, and both types often occur together. However, the beneficial organisms cause swellings of various shapes on the sides of the roots, so you should be able to tell them apart. Other eelworm species are more difficult to identify. For example, in the beet cyst eelworm, clear root symptoms may not be visible until the egg-laden females burst through the root walls to become visible as white…

WARM-UPS HELP TO HABITUATE THE HORSE TO THE NEW SURROUNDINGS Horse shows place a great deal of stress on riders, owners and horses. Some horses work well at home, but begin to misbehave as soon as they are taken to a show. If you’ve spent time, energy and money in getting your horse ready, you’ll know how frustrating it is to have the animal bolt, rear or buck in the show ring. No less problematic is the horse that weaves, crib-bites or rears and kicks at the walls. To understand why this happens, we need to go back to the basics of horse behaviour. Horses are herd animals, which means that all of them do the same thing at the same time, or the herd will disintegrate. Herd behaviour is…

Dear Jonno My husband and I are in our 50s and live in Mbala in northern Zambia. With our children now adults, we are planning to build a new home this year. We will use concrete blocks in its construction. The site is situated on a slight slope and has a lovely view. We would like to have three bedrooms, with the main en suite, as well as an office and a veranda at the front of the house. We also want an open-plan kitchen/dining room area, a kitchen of a reasonable size, and a scullery/laundry. An additional bathroom with a shower is another requirement. While an open-plan layout is not essential, we would love the bedrooms and lounge to face the view. We do not need anything too large,…

RED EARTH by Tony Park (Macmillan, R310) Park’s 13th thriller deals with rhino horn smuggling. The KZN setting has been carefully researched on the ground so there’s hardly a single misstep geographically, linguistically or climatically. Park puts together a cast of innocents, not-so-innocents and downright baddies, showing how a chance hijacking can derail a major undercover investigation, and exposing the risks taken by those who try to fight the forces of darkness. Hardly anyone is quite what they seem, and Park nimbly juggles all these conflicting identities for a rip-roaring showdown. An exhilarating read for action-thriller lovers. BRIDGET JONES’S BABY by Helen Fielding (Jonathan Cape, R295) The world of Bridget Jones is becoming weirder. Now she has one suitor onscreen and another in print… In 2013,…

“British farmers who can talk about their food in a way that appeals to consumers have a growth opportunity, says UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board chief strategy officer, Tom Hind. Hind was addressing the recent Oxford Farming Conference. This is equally true for SA farmers, as the growing interest in provenance brings consumers and growers closer together. Consumers are increasingly influencing producers’ planting decisions, as well as determining which cuts and styles of meat are desirable. The hike in demand for cauliflower as a result of Tim Noakes’s low-carb eating trend clearly shows the power that consumers have in influencing which crops are sown. The ‘build it and they’ll come’ business philosophy may have been the only consumer engagement required in a nascent economy, but today, with competition for…

THE CURRENT US TRADE DEBATE COULD BENEFIT SOUTH AMERICAN SOYA BEAN PRODUCERS Every crisis brings opportunities. This rings true for the current trade debates in the US, which could negatively influence its trade with China and Mexico. From an agricultural perspective, China is a key player in soya bean trading – constituting over 60% of global soya bean imports. The largest suppliers of soya beans to China are Brazil, the US, Argentina, Uruguay and Canada. For US farmers, this is of particular importance because approximately 70% of their soya bean exports go to China and Mexico, where soya meal is fed to animals in large animal feeding operations, while soya bean oil supplements strong consumer demand for vegetable oil. Trade with both China and Mexico could be negatively affected if…

The African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA) has issued a scathing statement accusing the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) of bullying black farmers who are the beneficiaries of the department’s land reform programme. AFASA secretary-general, Aggrey Mahanjana, said the association had received “numerous complaints” from its members alleging that the DRDLR had been “harassing and intimidating black farmers” to get them to pay lease fees for government-owned farms they were utilising or caretaking. According to him, the complainants had confirmed receiving messages from a private debt collection company, Trifecta Capital, that had allegedly been tasked by the DRDLR to carry out the collection of the farm lease fees. Mahanjana said that his association had been shocked to learn of the complaints because “AFASA was promised by…

Kering, the company behind brands such as Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Brioni, has built its own python farm in Thailand, according to The Guardian. The move was prompted by an increase in demand for luxury patterned leather, as well as growing pressure from campaigners over the use of animal skins for fashion. “Kering said it began looking at alternative ways to source precious skins about three years ago as part of its involvement in the Python Conservation Partnership,” noted The Guardian. Having its own farm meant that the company would not be seen supporting the lucrative illegal trade in exotic animal skins, however inadvertantly. University of KwaZulu-Natal snake expert, Warren Schmidt, said that South Africa had no commercial snake farms. Raising snakes was fairly expensive and there was likely to…

With little recent rain having fallen in the Amathole District Municipality, farmers and residents in the area are concerned that the Xilinxa Dam and smaller dams will dry up completely. In mid-January, the Xilinxa was 2,8% full, and this figure has since dropped to less than 2%. The dam supplies Butterworth, Kotana, Ehlobo, and smaller villages between Butterworth and Centane. Dams in Mnquma, Butterworth, Tolweni, Nqamakwe, Mabashe, Dutywa and Raymond Mhlaba, and particularly Bedford and Adelaide, are all less than 10% full, said Siyabulela Makunga, spokesperson for the Amathole District Municipality. “The dams are very small and if substantial rain does not fall soon, they will run completely dry in the next two months,” he added. The little rain that had fallen since December had helped grazing to recover somewhat,…

Tongaat Hulett’s two sugar cane milling plants in Zimbabwe’s southeastern lowveld took delivery of 1,1 million tons of sugar cane last year. The 2016 season’s harvest, the largest produced by Tongaat’s growers since 2000, was a substantial increase on the 800 000t harvested the previous season. This was according to Ushe Chinhuru, Tongaat Hulett’s executive for outgrower operations, who was speaking to delegates at a meeting of the newly-established Zimbabwe Sugarcane Development Association. Farmers in the area had been allocated plots for sugar cane cultivation over the past 17 years. Chinhuru said that Tongaat was pleased with the increasing output and hoped that production would increase to three million tons in the next five years. However, fears had been expressed that the current drought, which had resulted in the water…

Developing resistance to crop diseases benefits farmers and humanity: • Potato late blight This fungus devastated the Irish staple food some 170 years ago, causing famine that killed vast numbers of people. In 2009, it caused severe destruction to US potato lands. Fungicides offer only a temporary solution and their global annual cost is about R65 billion. The UK’s Sainsbury Laboratory has isolated a resistance gene in black nightshade and inserted it into modern potatoes to render them resistant. • Asian soya bean rust This fungus infects legumes and soya beans, causing major losses to farmers – R26 billion a year in Brazil, to name just one country. A solution came when researchers discovered a gene for resistance in the pigeon pea and successfully transferred it to soya beans. It was the…

MOST ORNAMENTAL FISH ARE PRODUCED BY ASIAN FISH FARMERS IN SMALL EARTH PONDS Fifteen years ago or so, rearing aquarium fish was an extremely attractive prospect, with some of these fish selling for upwards of R3 000/kg. Moreover, high-value aquarium fish could (and still can) be marketed live, with no need for processing or refrigeration. Sadly, this is no longer the lucrative business proposal it was once. What has changed? The answer, quite simply, is the Computer Age. Years ago, aquariums were a common sight in homes and businesses. Today, they are a rarity. In Germany, 20 years ago, 10% of the population of 80 million people owned a home aquarium. That represents eight million or more fish tanks! Of those eight million fish-keepers, many were young; today, few young…

 What is TAU SA’s stance on the state of land reform? VERY FEW PEOPLE WANT TO BE LARGE-SCALE COMMERCIAL FARMERS Land reform in South Africa is complicated and there are no easy answers. The structural weaknesses in the department and weak political leadership have led to the current impasse. TAU SA is aware of the need for land reform but everything comes at a price. Land reform cannot be implemented without clear goals and principles. Ideas such as the 80:20 principle that land distribution should reflect the demographics of the population are nonsensical, and the realities of the productive utilisation of farmland are largely ignored by the proponents of this. The successful land reform projects have been driven mainly by organised agriculture and the private sector. Very few government-driven projects…

FAST FACTS Milkwood Dairy was established in 1984. The dairy currently consist of 270 cows in milk, 220 heifers and 40 dry cows. A range of dairy products provides vertical expansion. The Muller family has been farming on Milkwood farm near George for 33 years. Today, Phil and Georgie Muller run Milkwood Dairy in partnership with Phil’s father, John, who started milking 17 cows on his farm outside Kokstad in KwaZulu-Natal in 1957. “In 1984, we relocated to Milkwood farm with our cattle,” says Phil, who has been farming in a 50:50 partnership with his father for the past 20 years. John looks after the finances and cattle records and carries out repairs on the farm, while Phil runs the dairy, pastures and stock. Georgie, his wife, who consults for…

The fresh produce business is changing so rapidly that a producer needs to be constantly aware of new developments and marketing opportunities. There will always be a demand for fresh produce packaged and sold the traditional way. But what about new opportunities? The major growers of fresh fruit and vegetables regularly seek new ways of enticing consumers. They carefully study what the customer wants and provide the goods accordingly. Sometimes it will be new packaging or new ways of presenting existing produce, sometimes a new variety or even a new product line. Whatever the approach, they strive to remain relevant in the marketplace. Smaller-scale farmers may not be able to afford these ‘fancy marketing tools’, but they can certainly look at new trends and see what can be done to…

THE SUCCESS OF THE MINI PERSUADED CAR MAKERS THAT FRONT-WHEEL-DRIVE VEHICLES HAD A REAL FUTURE Arguably the world’s first front-wheel-drive car was the Lohner-Porsche designed by Ferdinand Porsche of Volkswagen fame. Exhibited at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900, it was a battery-electric car propelled by an electric motor in each front wheel hub. In that same year, Porsche also built the first four-wheel-drive passenger car, a hybrid with four electric hub motors and two small petrol engines to charge the batteries. From 1925 onwards, the Frenchman, Jean-Albert Grégoire, played a major role in developing the first successful constant velocity (CV) joint, which had been designed by his friend, Pierre Fenaille.CV joints are a crucial feature of front-wheel-drive cars. Grégoire began by building a front-wheel-drive sports car, the Tracta, and…

 “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint,” says Isaiah 40:31. GOD HAS MADE US A PROMISE THAT HE WILL NEITHER LEAVE US NOR FORSAKE US When we read this beautiful scripture, we tend to think about running the race, or flying with wings like eagles and not becoming weary; we don’t always think about the last part of the verse: “they shall walk and not faint.” The famous 19th-century Scottish minister and hymn writer, George Matheson, who had a wonderful intimacy with God, said: “Can you walk in white through the stained roadways of men? Can you touch the vile and polluted ones of earth,…

Cropio (visit cropio.com) is a land management and vegetation control system that enables farmers to plan and carry out agricultural operations online. Once installed, the Cropio app (available from Google Play and iTunes) creates a ‘normalised difference vegetation index’ (NDVI) for specific lands and provides the following services: • Field zoning and problem area identification; • Fertiliser and seed distribution mapping; • Reporting/notification system; • Integration with GPS monitoring system; • Productivity estimate; • Weather forecasting; • Databank and historical information (on the account I saw that data was available from 5 May 2013 to date). Other advantages of Cropio are that it keeps data on all your lands in one place, provides real-time updates on current land and crop conditions, notifies you immediately if something is wrong, and even…

I joined television audiences worldwide watching Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on January 20. The media are still reporting on it, most of them negatively. Trump’s inaugural speech said nothing new on his promises to make America great again. There was just personal aggrandisement and a shocking display of his ego. The speech was laced with criticism of Obama’s term of office and the outgoing administration, and as the cameras panned to Obama’s face, his disdain was palpable. What’s in store for the future of the US and the world under Trump remains to be seen. With so much power vested in one man, we can only hope that the US Congress and Senate will hold the man in check. Our country is unlikely to be high on Trump’s agenda. Fortunately,…

Rooibos production volumes are slowly recovering from the impact of the drought suffered last season. Martin Bergh, CEO of Rooibos Ltd, said total production had amounted to only 11 000t last year due to unfavourable climatic conditions, whereas the demand for rooibos was about 15 000t/year. “It’s difficult to estimate what a normal harvest for rooibos would be, since production is so erratic. We nevertheless expect production to amount to about 12 500t this year, due to more favourable climatic conditions and production expansions driven by more favourable market prices caused by the shortage of supply,” Bergh said. PRICES HAVE RISEN ALMOST 200% IN TWO YEARS A few years ago, farmers were uprooting rooibos bushes due to unfavourable prices, but the producer price increased from R17/kg in the 2014 season…

Zebediela Citrus in Limpopo, which was restored to its indigenous Ndebele owners through a land claim process in 2003, has been on the verge of collapse. But it is now hoped that a capital injection of R100 million will save what was once Africa’s largest citrus producer. Tumi Mokwena, an attorney tasked with rescuing the business, said that the company had faced lawsuits after having breached its contractual obligation to supply its last harvest, destined for international markets, to a contractor due to bad management. Mokwena recently brokered a new long-term investment agreement with 8 Mile, a sister company of Fruitco, to secure a capital injection of R100 million over the next five years. The funds will be used to plant new trees, improve irrigation systems and mechanise the packhouse.…

The period for public comment on Rhino Oil and Gas Exploration South Africa’s (ROGESA) application to explore parts of northern KwaZulu-Natal for fossil energy reserves has been extended. This is after it was discovered that not all potentially affected properties in the area had been identified in information supplied by the Surveyor-General’s office. ROGESA’s independent environmental assessment practitioner, SLR Consulting, said the initial period for interested and affected parties to review and comment on the environmental impact report relating to ROGESA’s application had been extended to 10 April. “ROGESA applied for the extension, as it was identified late in 2016 that during the process of sourcing property and landowner information from the Surveyor-General, not all the properties that are the subject of the application were identified. It was thus necessary…

The reasons behind Botswana’s recent closure of its borders to fresh produce imports, including from South Africa, are still unclear. While production and marketing sources in South Africa’s fresh produce industry have confirmed Botswana’s import ban, the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) is still awaiting clarification from the Botswana government. DAFF spokesperson, Bomikazo Molapo, told Farmer’s Weekly that the National Plant Protection Organisation of South Africa (NPPOZA) recently requested Botswana’s National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO) “to authenticate media publications that exports of certain products from South Africa to Botswana have been banned”. Various sources reported that Botswana had implemented the import ban following an outbreak of tomato leaf miner (TLM) within its borders. Botswana was reportedly trying to control TLM, and the ban on fresh produce imports was…

Construction of Zimbabwe’s Tokwe-Mukorsi Dam in southern Masvingo Province has been completed. Work on the dam, which was built at a cost of US$260 million (R3,9 billion), started in 1998, but progress was hampered by lack of funding. Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister, Shuvai Mahofa, told Farmer’s Weekly that Italian contractor, Salini Impregilo, finished work on the dam in December last year. With a potential storage capacity of 1,8 billion cubic metres, the dam could potentially irrigate 25 000ha. “It’s a big project for the province and the country as a whole. We foresee many benefits from the dam in terms of irrigation, tourism, and electricity generation, among others,” she said. The Zimbabwe National Water Authority announced that by 17 January the dam contained 210 million cubic metres of water. Tokwe-Mukorsi…

 Two-thirds of all South Africans now live in urban areas. For obvious reasons, this is not ideal. The Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa by Eric Rosenthal (1965 edition) provides the population statistics of those living in rural towns at the time. Despite a substantial increase in South Africa’s population over the past 52 years, most of these rural towns have shown a significant decrease in the number of inhabitants. FUNDING IS NEEDED TO ENGAGE EXPERTS WHO CAN HELP GET PROJECTS OFF THE GROUND Notwithstanding this, on the agritourism Facebook page, young people express great interest in working on a farm and enjoying the rural lifestyle. The national department of agriculture needs to be at the forefront of training these youngsters and helping them gain the necessary experience to earn a sustainable…

Tarryn Hampson, who has a biochemistry degree and a passion for healthy food, and her husband Garry, are in a 50:50 partnership with Milkwood Dairy to produce four dairy products: plain yoghurt, Greek yoghurt, kefir and labneh soft cheese. After initially producing sugar-free and healthy dairy products for her own children, she started commercial production in August 2016. Within four months, she was processing 1 000ℓ of milk a month. About 40% of this is turned into Greek yoghurt, 20% into plain yoghurt, 20% into kefir and 20% into labneh. Products are sold in select delis and health shops along the Garden Route from Wilderness to Plettenberg Bay, and also to local restaurants.…

Black pepper is the cooked and dried unripe fruit of the Piper negrum plant. White pepper is the ripe fruit seeds. A flowering vine, the pepper plant attaches itself to trees or trellises by means of aerial roots. Its root system will penetrate to a depth of 2m. The plant has three types of branches (runners): • The main or primary runner forms the permanent stem from which other runners develop. • The secondary runners are round, long shoots. They climb to a considerable height and later droop downwards. • Tertiary runners are short, sturdier branches that spread horizontally from the primary and secondary runners. The fruit is a round berry, 4mm to 10mm in diameter, borne in oblong clusters. Each berry has one spherical seed of 3mm to 6mm…

STEERING REQUIRES FAR LESS EFFORT, DUE TO VARIABLE RATIO STEERING Since 1981, the LAMMA Show, now held in Peterborough, has grown to become the UK’s leading agricultural machinery equipment expo. At this year’s show in January, John Deere UK launched two new top-of-the-range, six-cylinder tractors, rated at 172kW and 187kW respectively and designed to meet the needs of contractors and farmers. The 6230R and 6250R set new standards for transport tractors with smooth acceleration on the road and excellent operator comfort. The flagship 6250R is equipped with an intelligent power management system that delivers an engine boost of 37kW when required, raising output to 225kW.JD claims that the 6250R has the highest power-to-weight ratio in this tractor segment, thanks to its light basic vehicle weight of 9,3t. The maximum weight…

YOU CAN’T DO WELL IN ALL OF THE PERFORMANCE CATEGORIES! You are only as good as your competition. If you are club champion in a weaker club and move house, your race team might struggle at a stronger club. The quality of the birds aside, other factors that make one club ‘weaker’ than another are loft location and prevailing wind direction. These may place an entire club at a disadvantage. When the wind direction changes in their favour, the pigeons are expected to score, but if most don’t arrive in time, the performance of the club as a whole suffers. A poor loft location is no excuse not to register a score. At club level, it could mean the difference between first and third, say, or fourth and fifth, but…

As with many Asian dishes, preparation requires greater time and focus than cooking. Crush, peel and mince the garlic, peel and thinly slice the onion, and finely chop the fresh ginger, peeled or unpeeled. Now for the two whole chillies. Cut these in half along their lengths and, with the tip of a paring knife, scrape out and discard the pips, and finely chop them. Remove the curry leaves from their stems. Some cooks prefer to remove the skin from the chicken pieces. Others rather like the flavour additions that come with chicken skin. If you leave the skin on, brown the thighs first to nominally crisp up and brown the skin. Otherwise, remove and discard prior to cooking. Heat up the oil of your choice in a large heavy-based…

Glutathione is responsible for getting toxins and free radicals out of your system before they can do any harm. The increased ‘toxic load’ of the past 50 years, coupled with nutritionally inadequate diets, has made it nearly impossible for our glutathione-systems to keep up. Free radicals are unstable molecules because they are unpaired electrons. In order to become stable, they steal electrons from your mitochondria. Glutathione protects every cell’s energy producers. In the process, glutathione ends up with an unpaired electron and becomes a free radical itself. If you have healthy glutathione levels, this isn’t a problem because the unpaired glutathione will pair with another available one, which recycles it back to its disease-fighting, body-guarding state. REDUCE STRESSORS A study published in the Lancet showed that the highest glutathione levels…

Kerneels Jansen van Rensburg established the Nooitverwag Beefmasters Stud in 1993 from a commercial cow herd started in 1978. The herd was subjected to stringent selection on an old-type cow card system that identified cows which either failed to calve or reared poor calves, so that they could be culled. This approach formed the basis of what is today one of the most fertile beef cattle herds in South Africa. The Beefmaster breed has certain key characteristics: • Fertility • Milk production • Conformation • Adaptability • Hardiness. These characteristics make the breed ideally adapted to South Africa’s diverse production conditions. Tom Lasater started developing the Beefmaster breed in the US early in the 1900s, leading to the US Department of Agriculture accepting it as a fully-fledged cattle breed in…