Table of contents for 28 May 2021 in Farmer's Weekly

I have found that many people who live in towns and cities have romantic ideas about what life on a farm is really like. They imagine the early-morning coffee at the kitchen table, followed by a leisurely checking-up-on-things before the farmer returns home for lunch with the family, and then a quick afternoon in the field ends when neighbours meet to drink something cold as the sun starts to set. Farm life holds a lot of beauty and benefit, and it certainly offers a lifestyle that many people would prefer over the rigid monotony that work and life in cities can entail. But farming is also hard work. Most producers start their days early, even before the sun is up, and the work doesn’t stop until late in the day.…

32 YEARS AGO Duck rearing is easy, according to this enterprising Lowveld producer, who sold his Pekins nationwide and exported some, too. Ten years ago, A Barnard was told that trying to produce ducks commercially in the Eastern Transvaal [Mpumalanga] Lowveld was impossible. But today he is possibly one of the largest day-old-duck producers in the area, selling his ducklings not only nationwide, but as far afield as the Seychelles. Barnard has a small farm on the Kaapsehoop road near Barberton. At one time, he was supplying [chicken] eggs to much of the Lowveld. But, when competition got too stiff, he hatched day-old chickens and was doing a nice line of business with culled hens to the local people and chicks to Mozambique, when independence in that country shut off…

The outlook for global agricultural conditions is in the spotlight as the 2021/2022 global grains and oilseed production season commences in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the season will start only around October. The International Grains Council (IGC) released its estimates at the end of April and painted a generally optimistic view for essential grain and oilseed production for 2021/2022. MAIZE The IGC forecasts global maize production at 1,2 billion tons, which is up 5% from the 2020/2021 production season. This optimism is underpinned by expectations of large crops in the US, Brazil, Argentina, Ukraine, China, the EU and Russia. The reaction to this data was generally muted. Some market participants are more focused on the short-term issues affecting the crop, such as persistent dry weather in Brazil,…

Responding to the recent suspension of Dr Baptiste Dungu, CEO of Onderstepoort Biological Products (OBP), Gerhard Schutte, CEO of the Red Meat Producers Organisation, expressed hope that improved management at OBP would result in fewer vaccine supply constraints. René Kenosi, chairperson of the OBP board, who recently tabled the state-owned enterprise’s annual performance plans for 2021/2022 to the Portfolio Committee of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (agriculture department), announced that Dungu had been served with a notice of precautionary suspension. Dr Boitshoko Ntshabele was appointed acting CEO in the interim. Kenosi said the entity and the agriculture department had received various allegations against Dungu and others that ranged from irregular procurement to employment contracts. “The board had an obligation to investigate the allegations,” he added. Schutte said he was…

A new study from the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham in the UK shows that no-till soil practices could lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 30% over a 10-year period. The aim of the study was to quantify the relationship between no-till as a soil-management tool, carbon sequestration, and GHG emissions. The research concluded that no-till was a readily available technology which could be implemented immediately as a tool for use in climate change mitigation. The investigation differed from previous work in this field in that it took into consideration the presence of carbon throughout the soil profiles studied. This was instead of the more common approach followed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which measured carbon only at a specific soil depth. The…

The forecast for winter rain from June to August, and even September, looks relatively positive for most parts of the Western Cape. However, it cannot be said with certainty whether the winter rainfall region will experience a wet or dry season. This was the message from independent meteorologist Johan van den Berg, speaking during a webinar hosted by the! Xhariep branch of Agricultural Writers South Africa. He said that, despite the weather forecast for South Africa currently being uncertain, the probability of El Niño conditions occurring was highly unlikely. According to Van den Berg, the La Niña weather phenomenon seemed to be in a neutral phase. La Niña peaked in December 2020 and weakened rapidly during February and March 2021. The current rainfall outlook for the period from May to…

Over the past decade, nanotechnology has infiltrated agricultural products, with many farmers being oblivious of this. “Farmers might have seen the benefits, but then [attribute it to] ordinary product improvements. The breakthroughs, however, are made through the manipulation of particles less than 100 nanometres in size,” said Prof Hendrik Swart of the Department of Physics at the University of the Free State. This technology was key to the sustainability of agriculture, especially when it came to fertiliser, herbicide and pesticide usage. “Since nanotechnology works with much smaller particles than conventional commercial products, nanoproducts are much better absorbed and require lower dosages than would have been necessary with conventional products,” Swart said. The environmental footprint of these products, subsequently, was much smaller than their conventional counterparts, turning them into valuable aids…

Commodity prices have recovered remarkably since the COVID-19-induced slump in 2020. The Standard & Poor GSCI commodity price index has risen 86% since March 2020. While still cautious, commentators believe we might possibly be entering a commodity super-cycle again. This is when prices move above long-term trends for long periods. We have seen four super-cycles to date. The first started in 1890 when rapid industrialisation and urbanisation took place in the US. The second started during the Second World War, peaked in 1951 and continued to 1973. Rapid economic growth in the early 1970s created demand, while supply was limited by countries that nationalised mining and refinery industries. This resulted in higher prices. The fourth super-cycle started with fast growth and increased demand as China modernised its economy and a…

TOWARDS A NEW DEAL by Rob Davies (Jonathan Ball, R300) Davies has been helping to shape a ‘new deal’ for South Africans, starting with the anti-apartheid struggle and now trying to bring greater economic equality to the country. This explains why this semi-memoir is dominated by political and economic issues, descriptions of their context, and discussion of the success or failure of Davies’s attempts to improve on them. Over 14 chapters, he writes a politico-economical history of the period that allows his personal experiences, wry humour and activism to appear in anecdotes that are woven in, but never dominate his clear political and economic analyses. In that sense, Davies is almost a shadow in his own book, yet he still succeeds in vividly depicting the different periods and the apparently…

‘Farmer’s Weekly magazine helped me discover my goals and direction in life’ My interest in and love for farming began when I read a copy of Farmer’s Weekly magazine for the first time (FW, 9 September 2016), given to me by a cellmate in my previous facility. My family would then send me copies of the magazine, until I was transferred to a new correctional facility in October 2020. But, I’ve been delighted to receive back copies from the Farmer’s Weekly editorial team since then. At the start of 2021, I got busy making enquiries about agricultural courses, and I’m very proud to say that I have now registered for a horticulture course and enrolled for a diploma in marketing management. Farmer’s Weekly has become such a significant presence in…

South Africa is a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). When the parties to the convention met in Paris in 2015 (COP 21), member nations undertook to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) in order to limit global warming to below 2°C, and preferably below 1,5°C, by 2100. Each country has to negotiate its ‘nationally determined contribution’, which represents its commitment to reaching the global goals. Developing countries such as South Africa are given slightly more leeway, but there is still a global push for all nations to increase their ambitions. Although it may be a small player in the global economy, South Africa has one of the highest per-capita GHG emission footprints in the world and its economy is very carbon-intensive. If we fail…

Mexico has dislodged Spain from its position as the largest strawberry exporter, with earnings of over US$851 million (about R12 billion) last year. This was 12,4% higher than it achieved in 2019. Spain held the top spot for more than two decades, but made only US$646 million (R9,1 billion) in international sales in 2020. The US was in third place with sales of US$477 million (R6,7 billion). According to the Mexico News Daily website, the Mexican strawberry industry managed to overcome the obstacles created by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as staff shortages and the almost complete halt in demand from the foodservice industry, which normally purchased 15% of the fruit. Despite farmers fearing that increased unemployment would make strawberries less attainable for consumers, local demand remained robust. The Mexican strawberry…

Industry role players are finalising a framework for the Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan to present to Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza. Stakeholders had agreed on the main themes, namely food security, the opening of new markets, transformation, job creation, rural safety, and climate change mitigation, but negotiations on how to achieve these goals would need to take place, according to Mooketsa Ramasodi, acting director general of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. Ramasodi did not want to commit to a completion date for the master plan, as it needed “proper consultation and planning”. Sean Walsh, CEO of Kaap Agri, said that Agbiz, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), and relevant farmers’ representatives had put a great deal of work…

Cyber criminals know no ethical boundaries and will attack wherever there is a vulnerability. Even the large technology vendors admit that no security software is infallible. According to the Hiscox Cyber Readiness Report 2021, the number of businesses targeted by cyber criminals during the past year increased from 38% to 43%, with more than a quarter of those targeted (28%) experiencing five attacks or more. These attacks are pushing many firms to the brink, with one in six businesses involved (17%) saying the financial impact materially threatened the company’s future. VERIFY ALL REQUESTS FOR PERSONAL INFORMATION, AND ONLY PROVIDE IT WHEN THERE IS A LEGITIMATE REASON Cyber crime is on the rise and South Africa is not immune. It has now been more than a year since pandemic-related restrictions began,…

Most farmers would be surprised to know that the term ‘hedge’, now synonymous with investment banks and financial markets, has its origins in the 14th century when it was used to describe a fence made from a row of bushes. Therefore, to hedge a piece of land was to limit it in terms of size and create a protective barrier. Today, financial hedges are used in a similar way by protecting and limiting against the potential risks that accompany unexpected changes in prices of shares and a range of commodities, including gold, oil, maize and fuel. A hedge acts like a form of insurance in that, for a small cost, it protects against large and unexpected movements in price. As the price of the underlying item changes, the hedge is…

Farmers’ markets have been around for centuries. They take different forms in different countries and regions, but all offer farm-fresh fruit and vegetables to consumers. South Africa has farmers’ markets too, but they are not as prominent as in many other countries. FRESH THINKING The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a game changer for farmers’ markets, with many consumers worldwide eating more fresh produce as part of a healthier diet to build up their bodies’ immunity. We repeatedly go full circle as people again and again rediscover the wonders of fresh produce! But there have been other reasons, too, for the recent surge of interest in farmers’ markets. One is that farmers have adapted to consumers’ needs by offering a wider range of products at these markets. Customers…

SERVES 6 TO 8 3 large potatoes Handful of chopped fresh rosemary or 2 tsp dried rosemary 125ml low-fat milk Salt and ground black pepper, to taste 1 medium onion 2 garlic cloves 500g lean mince 100g baby marrows, grated 1 medium carrot, grated 1 tin tomato-and-onion mix 1 packet tomato paste 60ml red wine Fresh basil or oregano 1 tsp Parmesan cheese • Place the whole, unpeeled potatoes in a large pot and add enough water to cover. Put the lid on and bring to a boil over a high heat. Reduce to a medium-low heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when pierced. Preheat the oven to 180°C. • Cut the potatoes into chunks and add the fresh or dried…

Daniel Hermanus Pienaar was born in Ladybrand in the Orange Free State on 27 August 1893. During the First World War (1914-1918), he first served under General Louis Botha as an artilleryman during the invasion of German South West Africa, then with the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force under General Jan Smuts when it fought against the Germans in East Africa. During this gruelling and difficult campaign with the South African Field Artillery Brigade, Pienaar was mentioned several times in despatches for bravery. From 1917 until the end of the war, Pienaar saw action in Palestine. The 24-year-old finished the war with the rank of subaltern in the British Army. At the end of the war, he returned to his Union Defence Force duties in South Africa. After being commissioned,…

If you were given R30 million to invest in agriculture, either in new or existing farming activities or in the agriculture value chain, how would you spend it? A barrier to entry faced by new entrants in the potato industry is lack of access to capital to invest in infrastructure. This money could purchase mobile sorting machines for these farmers. Another option would be to leverage the money to gain access to even more capital to establish at least two new commercial potato farmers. What is the best advice you have ever been given? My parents would tell me as a child that I had two ears for listening and one mouth for speaking. They were saying, in other words: listen carefully, make sure you understand the situation well, and…

The Linux Foundation recently launched the AgStack Foundation, a dedicated open-source digital infrastructure project for the agriculture sector. Sumer Johal, executive director of AgStack, said in a statement that the global agricultural ecosystem desperately needed a digital makeover, as the industry was suffering too many losses in the absence of reuseable tools and data. AgStack would address this by providing an open repository to create and publish models, free and easy access to public data, inter-operable frameworks for cross-project use, and topic-specific extensions and toolboxes. It would also leverage existing technologies and standards, public data, models and open-source projects. The creation of a shared community infrastructure filled a gap in the current agtech software landscape, Johal said. Russel Luck, CEO of online auction platform SwiftVee, explained the concept behind open-source…

EUROPEAN UNION The European Court of Justice has dismissed an appeal by Bayer to overturn a lower EU court’s 2018 decision to uphold the region’s partial ban on three insecticides linked to the death of bees, thereby preventing their use on certain crops. The ruling covers three active substances: imidacloprid (developed by Bayer CropScience), clothianidin (developed by Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer CropScience), and Syngenta’s thiamethoxam. ZIMBABWE There has been an overall increase in the area planted to horticultural crops in Zimbabwe this season, with the hectares under emerging crops such as blueberries increasing across the country’s provinces. According to that country’s The Chronicle newspaper, this formed part of the Zimbabwean government’s Horticulture Recovery and Growth Plan, aimed at reconfiguring the horticulture industry. The exception was stone fruit, with “old…

The Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour recently heard oral presentations from various organisations on the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment (COIDA) Bill, according to a statement from Parliament. Michel Bagraim, DA MP and spokesperson on labour, said: “Domestic workers are now recognised and can claim from the workers’ compensation fund if injured or ill. More controversially, the Amendment Bill is proposing that third parties not be allowed to operate within the compensation process.” Bagraim said farmers were often confused about how to manage domestic workers who also performed farm work. “My suggestion is to see where the worker spends the larger [proportion] of time, and then register him or her as either a domestic worker or a farmworker.” Jaco Swart, national manager of the National Employers’ Association…

The board of directors of the Milk Producers’ Organisation (MPO) recently announced the suspension of CEO, Chris van Dijk, and said it was embarking on a strategic restructuring of the organisation. This was according to a letter sent to MPO members and nonmembers to inform them of this decision, which would enable the board to investigate the reorganisation of the MPO without hindrance. Speaking to Farmer’s Weekly, MPO chairperson Colin Wellbeloved said the board aimed to complete the restructuring process as soon as possible, but he was unable to provide a timeline. “It is clear that our industry [of milk producers] can no longer sustain the MPO and its subsidiaries in its current form, and that drastic and urgent action is required.” Wellbeloved said that one of the reasons for…

After a good 2021 pre-season in the lower Orange River region, the scene is set for record raisin production this year. Despite some vines being damaged by severe frost in September 2020 and scattered dust-and hailstorms in November 2020, initial expectations were that 2021 might surpass the record yield of 2020, which totalled 85 080t. This was based not only on favourable weather conditions, but the establishment of new cultivars as well as young vines coming into full production. In line with 2020 yields, Raisins South Africa’s first crop estimate for 2021 was 86 000t. La Niña-related rainfall patterns have been forecast to continue well into 2021, which is positive. However, this weather system did cause disruption earlier this year, leading to substantial rainfall in the catchment areas of the…

There are a number of methods of hydroponic cultivation. The two main systems use a substrate or employ only nutrientrich water. In some instances, both methods are used simultaneously. SUBSTRATES The following are substrates that can be used for cannabis production in hydroponic systems. • Rockwool Rockwool is an inert substrate made of spun rock minerals that acts as a medium for roots. Different forms of Rockwool can be used, but the most popular is cubes. Typically, drip irrigation and ebb-and-flow systems are used for irrigation. Pros – Excellent water-holding and drainage. – Excellent oxygen availability for roots. Cons – Rockwool cannot be reused. – It requires frequent watering. – It is susceptible to temperature changes in the root zone. • Lightweight expanded clay aggregate Hydroton clay pebbles, also known…

Back muscles play a key role in the body’s core stability, and when they are in good shape, they help prevent unnecessary stress to the structures that support the body, such as the ligaments. While the back has to keep the body upright, it needs the co-operation of the core muscles at the front to do so. It also helps not to be obese or frequently constipated. In the case of the latter, the intestines push forward and cause the stomach muscles to slacken. What follows here are two relatively simple exercises for strengthening your back and core, as recommended by a registered physiotherapist (see FW, 21 May for other exercises). Before you start, pull your stomach in, imagining that your belly button is being drawn towards your spine. This…