Management tools to improve yield and oil content
Following soybean, peanut and rapeseed, sunflower oil is the fourth most important vegetable oil in world trade with annual sunflower production of around 18 million tons and a cultivated area of over 47 million...
Buy agrochemicals from an accredited crop adviser
Agriculture in South Africa is based on more than just a business exchange or making a profit – it is based on human relationships and trust. However, if something goes wrong, it shakes these...
Benefits of winter cover crops in a mixed farming system
April 2018
GERRIE TRYTSMAN, ARC-Animal Production
With a total of only 14% land suitable for arable cropping, South Africa is not well endowed with resources for dryland (rainfed) farming. Soil degradation often occurs due to monoculture...
Markvooruitsigte en gewasbeplanning
June 2016
DIRK STRYDOM, bestuurder: Graanekonomie en Bemarking, Graan SA
Landbou in Suid-Afrika het gedurende die afgelope vyf jaar se produksieseisoene druk ervaar wat klimaatsomstandighede betref – meer spesifiek droogtes en rekord-hoë temperature tydens die bestuiwingsperiodes....
Leaf miner on wheat: What should be done?
May 2018
DR GODDY PRINSLOO, ARC-Small Grain, Bethlehem
What seems to be a few yellow larvae inside a wheat leaf in the year 2000, was the start of a new pest on wheat and barley. However,...
Conservation agriculture: Part 12
February 2015
WAYNE TRUTER, University of Pretoria,
CHRIS DANNHAUSER, Grass SA,
HENDRIK SMITH, Grain SA and
GERRIE TRYTSMAN, ARC-Animal Production Institute
Integrated crop and pasture-based livestock production systems
This article is the twelfth in a series of articles highlighting a...
Quality hybrids yield high oil content
Oilseed crops are the second-largest source of food after cereals, with a large expansion worldwide due to high demand for vegetable edible oil. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is one of the four most important...
Gerbils in agriculture: Impact and ecologically based control
Grain crops worldwide are impacted by various pests that affect yield, profitability and in some cases food security. An important, but often overlooked pest of grain crops, is rodents.
In a recent meta-analysis it was...
Machinery and implements for conventional farming systems
September 2018
JOHAN VAN BILJON and DR TINGMIN YU, ARC-Agricultural Engineering
The optimal use of the correct equipment and implements is necessary to optimise farming production and to maximise operational profit. All mechanisation actions need to...
Management of Sclerotinia head and stem rot
February 2019
MARLESE BESTER and LISA ROTHMANN, Department of Plant Sciences: Plant Pathology Division, University of the Free State
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a hemi-biotrophic fungal plant pathogen, therefore a biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogenic lifestyle is followed. This...
