The official opening of Africa Agri Tech 2023 was marked by the induction of the first person into South African agriculture’s inaugural Hall of Fame. The recipient was Dr Faffa Malan, a large animal veterinarian and former Manager of the Ruminant Veterinary Association of South Africa. He was praised for his many years of dedicated service to the industry and commended on making a huge, positive impact on emerging farmers, with whom he has interacted and advised for many years. He was presented with a commemorative plaque by Willem Kleyn, Trade Marketing Manager at Elanco Animal Health. Dr John Purchase, the former CEO of Agbiz has been appointed custodian of the newly instituted SA Agriculture Hall of Fame
The presentation was followed by an interesting panel discussion involving Kevin Kalb, a visiting farmer from the United States who has won 14 top corn yield awards for dryland farming. There was also input from Danie Bester, a successful farmer from Balfour, and video comments from Brooks Cardinal, an irrigation farmer from Oaktown, Indiana. They discussed various ways of improving yields by using technology to assist with providing the correct amounts of fertilisers and to monitor tissue samples on a regular basis.
Panel facilitator Prof Ferdi Meyer said that maize farmers were among the most efficient in the world and that the price of maize in South Africa had continued to fall in real terms over the past 100 years.
Kalb said he had changed virtually all the practices his grandfather had employed on the family farm in DuBois, Indiana, as he increased the corn yield substantially. Kalb explained that careful soil monitoring had enabled the amount of nitrogen fertiliser used on his corn crop to be cut by as much as 50% with a consequent cost saving. Kalb said it was important to tie together equipment, fertilisers and corn genetics to increase yields, while Bester said he employed precision farming using a specialised software platform as important in his bid for improving productivity.
The farmers discussed the changing weather patterns with which they had to contend both locally and, in the US, which impacts on planting time.
Looking to the future, Kalb concluded by saying that he is looking froward to the arrival of shorter stature corn plants which would provide the same yields as the taller variety, while he is also considering narrowing the distance between the rows by 33%.
Africa Agri Tech 2023 takes place from 14 – 16 March 2023 from 08:00 – 17:00 daily at the SunBest Arena, Menlyn Maine. Conference registration for Days 2 and 3 can be completed online as can complimentary trade visitor registration.
More information at www.africa-agri.co.za
[…] Source link […]
Comments are closed.