Grain SA celebrated the cream of the crop at its annual gala awards evening, held at The Theatre on the Track in Midrand on Friday, 12 October 2018. Honouring the country’s top grain producers, this year’s awards ceremony commemorated the 19th year of the accolades and was attended by Hon Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mr Sifiso Buthelezi, together with senior governmental officials, representatives of the various agricultural Trusts, organised agriculture as well as captains of industry and the grain producing guests of honour.

The Grain Awards give recognition to grain producers who farm with excellence. In addition, the finalists serve as excellent role models to the younger generation of producers whilst the image of the grain producer is enhanced. The judges were once again faced with a difficult task as all the finalists proved to be exceptional producers with diverse management styles. The Grain Producer of the Year gives recognition to successful grain producers who manage their businesses with such passion and dedication, so as to set an example and serve as inspiration to other producers.

The 2018 Grain SA/Syngenta Grain Producer of the Year was awarded to the Van As Brothers from Swellendam in the Western Cape. Johan and Dirkie van As have been involved in the family farm, Kinko, since 1985. Both brothers have approach farming as perfectionists, with Johan mainly seeing to the finances and livestock, and Dirkie in charge of the grain production. Even so, the different legs of this successful farming operations are transparent and all future planning and purchasing decisions are discussed and decided upon, as a team. The Van As brothers cultivate canola, barley, wheat and lucerne on approximately 8,700 ha. Their livestock comprise stud and commercial sheep, with about 11 000 breeding ewes and approximately a further 10 000 sheep for a wool-meat production system. The Van As Brothers believe that agriculture is the cornerstone of the South African economy and is assured that a strong agricultural sector driven by stability, sustainability and food security, is the key to success.

The other finalists in this category were the Van Zyl Family Trust (Theo, Theo Jnr & Cobus) from Ladybrand in the Free State and the Wilken-family (Louis, Louis Jnr & Jaco) from Middelburg in the Eastern Cape.

View the photo gallery below to catch a glimpse of the evening's highlights:

The Grain Producer of the Year is proudly sponsored by Syngenta South Africa

Grain SA celebrated the successes of its farmer development programme during a joyous event held on Wednesday, 26 September 2018. With this celebration growing every year, the event was moved to NAMPO Park, outside Bothaville which proved successful in more ways than one. More than 350 guests including government representatives, agricultural stakeholders and nearly 200 emerging grain producers gathered to witness the harvest of farmers – as this event is fondly referred to. Consisting of four categories, the Day of Celebration honours Subsistence, Smallholder, Potential Commercial and New Era Commercial farmers and their contribution to the country’s food security.

The 2018 Grain SA/ABSA/John Deere Financial New Era Commercial Farmer of the Year was awarded to Jeremia Makhosini Mathebula from Amersfoort in Mpumalanga. Jeremia, this year’s worthy recipient of a brand new John Deere 5075 MFWD tractor sponsored by John Deere Financial, started his farming career in 2009 with a herd of twelve cattle and planting only 40 ha of arable land on which he could only achieve about 4 tons of maize/ha. He currently manages over 400 breeding cows and plants a total of 450 ha of maize and 100 ha of soybeans. Growing year by year and renting more farms to plant more maize, Jeremia excelled independently and is progressing in leaps and bounds.

The 2018 Grain SA/Bayer Potential Commercial Farmer of the Year was awarded to Paulus Mosia from Edenville in the Free State. Receiving a farm, Sterkwater, in 2008 by the DRDLR on the PLAS Programme he was able to utilise the 60ha arable land for grain production and the remaining 140ha for grazing with the help of the Grain SA Farmer Development programme. Now in its second year, this category recognises farmers with access to more than 100 hectares of arable land, but currently not able to use all the available land. Yet they are in a position to become 250 ton New Era Commercial Farmers. The other finalists in this category were Anton and President Mabaso from Bothaville in the Free State.

The 2018 Grain SA/Syngenta Smallholder Farmer of the Year was awarded to Nhlanhla Sicelo Mngadi from Estcourt in KwaZulu-Natal. Joining the Grain SA Farmer Development Programme in 2015, this entrepreneur has his eyes on commercial yields, and with his brother are slowly working towards building farming capacity, and improving not only hectares and yields but also agricultural practices and efficiency. The other finalists in this category were Mduduzi David Mnisi from Breyton in Mpumalanga.

The 2018 Grain SA/ABSA/John Deere Financial Subsistence Farmer of the Year was awarded to Jenette Thembi Shoba. Jenette started farming with maize and cattle with her late husband Simon in 1994 and truly started enjoying farming after joining her local Grain SA study group. Gaining skills and knowledge to farm more professionally an productively, Jenette managed to produce 7,5 tons of maize for the first time on 1 ha. The other finalists in this category were Amos Mfaniseni Kubheka and Elliot Njeya Siyavuya.

View the photo gallery below to look at the colourful display of this wonderful event:

The 2017/18 production season

Maize delivery tempo versus Crop forecast - 2017/18 production season

Below are three different scenarios that can compare the maize delivery tempo with the Crop Estimate. There are four months remaining for maize deliveries before the reconciled crop estimate is concluded on 13 February 2019. The % deliveries for the remaining weeks (weeks 25-44), for white and yellow maize are calculated on a 3-year, 5-year and 10-year average.

Key conclusions:

• According to calculations, the white maize crop may decrease between 92 361 ton en 196 951 ton in February 2019
• According to calculations, the yellow maize crop may decrease between 147 853 ton en 164 021 ton in February 2019
• The total maize crop can thus decrease on average with approximately 240 214 ton (with the 3-year average taken into account)
• Possible downward adjustment may be expected in both white and yellow maize production for the season if compared to the various historical delivery tempos.

General conditions saw producers in the Eastern parts of the country started planting maize last week, while other areas are still busy with final soil preparation. Producers in the Western Cape are harvesting wheat full steam.

Click the image below for full screen view

The CA Farmer Innovation Programme (FIP), coordinated by Grain SA, was recently awarded for outstanding performances at the following events:

The National LandCare conference from 25-27 September in Bloemfontein

Mahlathini Development Foundation (MDF) was awarded for the best LandCare project implemented by a civil organization. MDF implements the CA projects for smallholders in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, which are funded by The Maize Trust and coordinated by the CA FIP at Grain SA. They work in close collaboration with various key stakeholders, such as the provincial LandCare programme.

Dr Hendrik Smith’s role in LandCare was recognised with a “Long serving LandCare veteran award”. Dr Smith is one of only two people of the South African delegation that investigated the Australian LandCare movement in 1997 and who are still actively involved in LandCare in the country.

The National LandCare Programme is a community-based natural resource management initiative, and in the face of high degradation rates of natural resources in the country, it has a growing responsibility to empower farmers to farm in a more sustainable manner. The CA FIP at Grain SA and The Maize Trust is a prime example of a ‘good’ LandCare initiative and has made significant progress to promote CA among all farmers in South Africa.

The 2^nd African Conference for Conservation Agriculture (2ACCA)

MDF won the 2018 Champions Award in Africa for their excellent work done with CA in smallholder situations under the CA FIP umbrella. In a fairly short space of time their work has already been used as example of best practices in Africa and taken up in various educational, research, development and policy initiatives. Reports and videos of these projects can be viewed on the Grain SA CA website (see link below).

The ‘new’ Grain SA Conservation Agriculture website

The Grain SA CA website has recently been updated with the latest reports, videos and many other relevant and interesting links.
Please visit it here: https://www.grainsa.co.za/grain-research/conservation-agriculture

With the grain planting season on hand, farmers have to be aware of the imminent threat posed by gerbils to newly planted crops. Gerbils are a menace to grain farmers and may cause serious crop damage by digging up planted seed or eating germinating seed. It is still early days and if a properly structured integrated gerbil management programme is implemented the potential damage can be nullified. Natural enemies such as owls and diurnal raptors play a significant role in gerbil management, but are often struck from duty by the irresponsible use of pesticides and rodenticides. CropLife South Africa urges grain farmers to download and follow the gerbil management programme on http://croplife.co.za/images/Gerbil_management_October_2018.pdf and to refrain from using any pesticides off-label to control gerbils.

Any of the registered rodenticides as listed in the gerbil management plan must be placed in bait stations or in gerbil burrows as explained in the plan. Scattering rodenticides onto the soil surface is not only illegal but ineffective and poses a severe risk for biodiversity. We also encourage grain farmers to attract owls and diurnal raptors to assist with gerbil control – this is all explained in detail in the management plan. Scouting is a very important part of the management plan and farmers are encouraged to check hedgerows for burrows and gerbil droppings. Once found, it should trigger the implementation of the management plan.

For any particular advice call Dr Gerhard Verdoorn at CropLife SA on 082 446 8946 or email him at gerhard@croplife.co.za.