On the first Friday of November in 2017 a small Cape Malay choir welcomed 180 guests at the spectacular KWV Cathedral Cellar in Paarl, to celebrate 20 years of free market trade: The deregulation of the deciduous fruit industry. Celebrity…
Over the next couple of months, we will introduce you to some of our young farmers in the deciduous fruit industry. This ‘next generation’ is passionate about farming, and ready and willing to take on any challenge that South African…
By Louise Brodie From small beginnings and through hard work, the Koue Bokkeveld Training Centre, better known as KBOS, has established itself as an invaluable resource for skills and personal training and development in the larger Ceres area. So much…
Rosemary Sanda from Romansrivier, Graaff Fruit, was recently chosen as the best NQF Level 4 agricultural learnership student in South Africa. Rosemary works at Romansrivier and is head of technical operations, supervisor for the agricultural chemicals storage room and quality…
Communication is a golden thread that runs through all the departments at Hortgro, and we all have the same goal: to inform and provide growers with quality information, stimulate knowledge in order to increase profit and build transformational bridges. Here…
Words by Wiehann Steyn I recently had the opportunity to spend a week in each of Japan, Australia and Ethiopia. The XIII International Plant Bioregulator Symposium held in Chiba near Tokyo was very well attended by South Africans. This should…
Status of Bactrocera dorsalis: Bactrocera dorsalis (Oriental Fruit Fly) is a quarantine pest of Asian origin capable of infesting various commercial fruit crops (400 recorded hosts). It was previously described as the Invader fruit fly (Bactrocera invadens). It is now found in 65 countries…
Ripe fruit on harvest day is possibly the most attractive breeding ground for fruit flies, says FruitFly Africa’s manager, Nando Baard. Therefore the amendment for the use of GF-120 to a zero-day withholding period is a great improvement in controlling…
Despite the challenge of the drought, South Africa can fulfil its commitments to the market for the 2017/2018 season. There has been very little relief from the drought that has been plaguing the Western Cape for the majority of 2017…
The South African fruit sector is nothing without agricultural workers, thus the sector views its human resource component as its most valuable asset. In a value statement released by Fruit South Africa (FSA), the umbrella body of the South African…
Dawn at Amanzi Words by Elise-Marie Steenkamp Meet the inspirational Errol April, a 49-year-old deciduous fruit farmer who until recently knew nothing about fruit farming. Read about this MK-veteran’s journey from the Cape Flats to the orchards of Amanzi. A…
Met albei bene (en hart) op die grond Woorde deur Elise-Marie Steenkamp Prof. Leopoldt van Huyssteen, Uitvoerende Bedryfshoof van die Universiteit Stellenbosch, is vanjaar die Sagtevrugtebedryf se wenner van die O.S.H. Reinecke Leierskapstoekenning. Die toekenning gaan jaarliks aan iemand wat…