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THE
GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY
OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
ႈႊ
for the world’s growing population. Experts in this field believe that conservation
agriculture could make a major contribution to soil health and conservation.
In South Africa continuous intensive soil cultivation has led to excessive soil deg-
radation in the grain-producing areas. In a study that the ARC carried out during
2008 it was found that the average loss of soil on account of grain production in
the country was about 13 tons/ha/year, which is much higher than the rate at which
natural soil formation takes place. The conclusion was that agricultural production
and management models will have to change to ensure economically viable agri-
cultural production in the long term.
Origin
The concept of conservation agriculture started in the 1930s during the so-called
‘Dust Bowl’ in the USA. This referred to the terrible soil degradation due to water
and wind erosion that American producers experienced as a result of intensive
tillage practices and accompanying soil disturbance. Driven by the realisation that
they really had to do something about that, the producers started experimenting
with conservation agriculture practices and principles. After the American govern-
ment and technical experts became involved, the approach started to spread with
producers always driving the efforts.
In the next few decades this approach spilled over to countries like Canada, South
America and Australia, and in the late 1960s also to South Africa, where it became
established especially in KwaZulu-Natal. The KwaZulu-Natal No Till Club was formed,
making an important contribution to implement this approach in local conditions. In
the 1980s and 1990s much research was conducted about conservation agriculture
in collaboration with the KwaZulu-Natal No Till Club and its members.
The application of conservation agriculture practices was therefore relatively well
accepted in KwaZulu-Natal. This also spread to the Western Cape in the 1990s,
where entry into conservation agriculture was driven by economic realities in par-
ticular. The producers in those areas were compelled to make changes to their
farming practices in order to be more sustainable and economically viable.
By the end of 2014 it was estimated that about 70% to 80% of the producers in
the Western Cape accepted conservation agriculture, and about 60% in KwaZulu-
Natal, but in the rest of South Africa there were very few.
It is estimated that worldwide around 100 million hectares of field crops are culti-
vated under conservation agriculture. In countries like Argentina, Brazil, the USA
and Australia the acceptance level among producers for conservation agriculture
is more than 70%.
Conservation agriculture farmer innovation programme
In South Africa, during the second half of the 2000s, the Maize Trust decided to
place a greater focus on conservation agriculture, and the Trust in fact made funds
available for conservation agriculture projects.A few years later the Maize Trust
and Grain SA together decided to create a position for an expert who could focus
permanently on the promotion of conservation agriculture among all grain farmers
in South Africa. The position, which was filled during January 2013, is located in
Grain SA’s structures, but is funded by the Maize Trust, with a smaller contribution
from the Winter Cereal Trust.
The programme is established in Grain SA as the Conservation Agriculture Farmer
Innovation Programme, with the following strategic goals:
• To create more awareness for conservation agriculture;
• To improve access to information for all those involved;
• To achieve better training for key role-players in conservation agriculture;
• To do more research on farms with producers as participants.
It is deemed important for the success of the programme to acknowledge pro-
ducers and use them as primary, unique innovators, because success depends in
the first place on the acceptance and innovation by producers. Research is done
on the farm in collaboration with different role-players with the producer in the