An opportunity to ‘Grow for gold’

March 2022

Yield plays an important role in a grain producer’s profitability. Grain SA’s national yield competition for grains, called grow for gold, offers a platform for South Africa’s top producers to compete in various categories and to share their success stories.

Categories include dry and irrigated land. Producers are further divided into both regional and national participation. Innovative production practices and smart farming plans are encouraged to achieve the highest yields per hectare, regardless of the cultivar planted.

The competition is structured in such a way that it creates interaction between individual seed companies’ regional competition and an overhead national competition. Each seed company still offers their own yield competition, from which entries can progress to the national competition hosted under the Grain SA banner. The competition entails consultation with all seed companies for the creation of a standard protocol, thus ensuring that all participating seed companies and grain producers are judged on the same level of criteria.

Initially only commercial producers of maize, sunflower and soybeans could enter, but two new categories have since been added for wheat and small scale farmers (1 ha minimum to 2 ha maximum).

Gardner Khumalo who farms in the Amajuba district on the outskirts of New Castle was the first winner in the small-scale maize farmer category of Grain SA’s Grow for Gold National Yield Competition with a yield of 8,01 t/ha.

With a yield of 14,7 t/ha Bheki Mabuza who farms in Amersfoort, Mpumalanga, finished in third place in the category for maize production in the eastern Highveld region in the 2021 Grain SA Grow for Gold National Yield Competition. He competed against some of South Africa’s top commercial maize producers.

HOW TO ENTER

• Enter your own seed companies’ yield competition. Contact your seed marketer for more information.
• If a region/company does not form part of an existing competition, the entry can be sent directly to Grain SA by completing the form on the website, http://groeivirgoud.co.za/en/register/.
• You have to register at least two weeks before the start of the harvest. The entry fee (to show commitment) is R1 000 per entry and payment must be made per entry. Grain SA members can enter free of charge.
• Entries must include the producer’s name and identified block (a minimum of 2 ha). For small scale farmers the identified block is a minimum of 1 ha and a maximum of 2 ha.

Scan the QR code to read more about the competition on the Grow for Gold website.

Publication: March 2022

Section: Pula/Imvula