Sustainable farming

One of the most encouraging trends taking shape in the South Africa farming sector is the rise in interest amongst farmers to convert to more sustainable farming practices. However, experts consistently caution farmers not to try and switch from conventio

the power of cover crops (right) Steve Groff, a cover crop coach from the US, assures farmers that the constant, long-term use of cover crops and crop residues will not only lead to ever-diminishing numbers of weeds, but also reduce the need to apply costly inorganic nitrogen fertiliser to subsequent cash crops ( FW, 30 November).

saving money and the envir onment (below) Chris Dewald Bothma

and of Anievaal farm in North West converted from conventional maize production to a combination of precision and conservation agriculture methods. The change did not come easily, however. After reading about precision soil-sampling to establish exactly what their soil required, and visiting farmers who were already implementing these methods, the Bothmas were convinced that precision and conservation practices, used in tandem, could restore the soil and help them save on input costs. By slowly converting to this way of farming, the profile and health of their soil has improved so much that their input costs are now R1 500/ha less than those of conventional farmers ( FW, 16 March).

“I think that all of agriculture has lost the art of farming. We’ve relied too much on things we can buy to fix our problems. We should rather be educating ourselves about how we can farm better and how our soils function. Soil health can’t be bought.”

– Veteran US farmer and cover crop coach Steve Groff explains why farmers should not give up when trying to grow cover crops for the first time ( FW, 23 November).

“Don’t get emotional [and] don’t live in denial because the soil acidity problem will not disappear unless you take action.”

– Guy Thibaud, a soil scientist with the KwaZulu-Natal department of agriculture says that before transitioning from conventional tillage, farmers must fix soil acidity ( FW, 9 November).

“Restoring soil health with the help of conservation farming can’t be achieved overnight. We’ve been doing conservation farming at Tygerhoek for the past 17 years and at Langgewens for 23 years.”

– Dr Johann Strauss, agronomist at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, says long-term conservation trials conducted on rotated grain crops in the Swartland and Southern Cape have shown that having plant material on the land over time helps buffer the impact of drought on yields ( FW, 13 April).