Editorial
5
November 2013
THE SUN WILL ALSO
SHINE AT NIGHT!
Jannie de Villiers, Uitvoerende hoofbestuurder/CEO
om energie meer te maak, maar vir water is daar nie ‘n plaasvervanger
nie. As ons net na ons samelewing se gebruik van water moet kyk, lê daar
‘n besonder moeilike paadjie vir ons voor. Ons mors en besoedel dit so;
asof daar nie ‘n einde daaraan is nie.
Ek wil afsluit met ‘n storie wat in die distrik van New Orleans in die VSA
afgespeel het; waar ek oor ‘n naweek in die laboratorium besig was om
saam met ‘n amptenaar van die Koringraad (dr Sierk Ybema), valgetal-
toetse op Amerikaanse koring te doen wat ons in die proses was om op
‘n skip te laai. My werk was om proefbuise te was en dr Ybema het die
toetse gedoen.
Die kraan in die laboratorium was die hele tyd oop en elke keer as ek
daar verbyloop het ek dit, soos my ma my geleer het, toegedraai. Op
‘n stadium “vang” die Amerikaner wat daar gewerk het my terwyl ek dit
toedraai en hy vra hoekom ek dit doen, want sien, dit mors tyd om dit elke
keer oop of toe te draai.
Ek het aan hom verduidelik dat, waar ek vandaan kom, ons nie eers ‘n
kraan laat drup nie. Sy antwoord was bloot: “Kyk deur die venster, die
Mississippi loop twee myl wyd hier, daar is nie ‘n kans dat ons sonder
water gaan wees nie”. Nodeloos om te sê dat ek hom so in die oë gekyk
het en maar net weer die kraan toegedraai het.
T
his month’s theme for the
SA Graan/Grain
magazine is about en-
ergy and water management – two resources without which not
only producers, but the whole of humanity cannot exist.
One of my first experiences of electricity and the resource it is, coincides
with my experiences as a child when I had to sleep alone in the blue room
with only a single candle to provide light at my grandfather Brandkop’s
(also the name of the farm) farm.
In later years we were old enough to go to the out buildings to crank
up the Lister engine to generate light for the house. What I will never
ever forget was the unbelievable quietness that prevailed when we had
to switch off the engine later at night. It was the cold southern Free State
air of the July holidays; the bright stars and the absolute deathly silence
when the Lister finally died off. Thank goodness the dogs were always
around to accompany us back to the house!
Now it seems like electricity supply has almost come full circle. We are
again beginning to reach the stage where producers will have to start
generating their own electricity supply. This time round, however, it does
not depend on the availability of electricity, but rather the affordability
thereof. The tariff increases have forced producers to become more crea-
tive; not only to save power and work more efficiently, but also to exploit
new sources of energy. Sun panels and bio-energy are our destiny.
Fortunately the next generation will not have to walk down the passage
with a candle like I had to, but the future source of our energy will be
from the farm sheds, the fields or from the sun. Agriculture has never
shied away from making a new start, but we are going to need a few new
partners to overcome this hurdle.
To turn maize into fuel or electricity is not within everyone’s ability or
reach. What is true, however, is that the scope and opportunities are there
to now already start investing in. It is very clear that we as the grain sec-
tor have an opportunity here to not only manage our own consumption,
but also to generate our own energy and possibly later sell it. A totally
new branch of industry for your farm.
The challenges of flood irrigation and windmill pipes falling into the bore-
hole; a house without water and making hot water in a half filled 44 gal-
lon drum to be able to enjoy a bath, are all stories for another day. Today
every producer’s lifeline is water!
It is not a reality for irrigation farmers only, but for every farm. Without
water we will not have food. Our country’s water resources must each
year be shared among more and more people. Will the price of water
also force us to use it differently? I seem to remember that it was minister
Trevor Manual who on occasion remarked that we can still make a plan to
generate more energy, but that there is no substitute for water. If we only
considered our society’s consumption of water it is clear that there lies a
very difficult road ahead of us. We seem to waste and contaminate water
as if there was no end to it.
I want to close with a story that happened in New Orleans in the USA
where, over a weekend, I was in a laboratory with an official of the Wheat
Board (Dr Sierk Ybema) busy doing falling number tests on American
wheat in the process of being loaded on a ship destined for South Africa.
My job was to wash the test tubes and Dr Ybema was doing the tests.
The water tap in the laboratory was opened all the time and every time I
passed it I, as my mother taught me, closed it. At one stage the American
working in the laboratory “caught “ me while I was closing the tap and
asked me why I did it since, he explained, it was a waste of time to open
or close the tap each time.
I explained to him that where I came from we did not even allow a tap to
drip. He just responded: “Look out of the window. The Mississippi river
runs two miles wide here; there is no chance that we would end up with-
out water.” Needless to say, that I just looked him in the eye, and closed
the tap again.
