2023

A WORD FROM… Jerry Mthombothi May 2023 During this season, farmers have experienced many problems such as high input costs, hot dry spells in January and heavy rains from mid-February.  Many farmers may not be able to return to farming in the next planting season as a result of the drought that their crops

Combat harvest time losses May 2023 JENNY MATHEWS, MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST AND EDUCATOR   There is a proverb which states: ‘well begun is half done.’ in the case of grain farmers, this couldn’t be truer. It is not enough to grow a good crop if one does not have a plan for the final

Tactics to disrupt Sclerotinia May 2023 There is no magic solution for managing Sclerotinia stem and head rot of soybean and sunflower. During a Sclerotinia research day on 13 October 2022, several role-players discussed some integrated pest management (IPM) approaches which producers could implement to manage epidemics.  Integral to developing an IPM system is to

Change from surviving to thriving May 2023 LIANA STROEBEL, OPERATIONS AND TRAINING MANAGER, GRAIN SA   With increasing input costs and unpredictable weather, farmers need to work smarter if they want to have a sustainably profitable farming business.  Most farmers are not very keen on administration because farmers want to be outside and farm. However,

Corner Post May 2023 Lona Kobu (42), a single mother of a 13-year-old daughter, is dreaming of becoming one of the Grain SA Farmer Development Programme’s success stories. Judging by the improvement she has shown in one year, this dream may very well become a reality. In the 2021/2022 planting season, Lona harvested five 50

Farmers’ days: A platform to share farming ideas May 2023 Grain SA is an organisation run by farmers for farmers, and interests need to be protected and voices of concern must be raised. The Grain SA congress is one such platform for farmers to do this. The Farmer Development team tries to schedule regular farmers’