This extract serves to unpack the intensive year-long beekeeping management required to prepare for pollination as presented at the pollination webinar on 31 May 2022. Deciduous fruit, berry and seed plantings are expanding rapidly each year, driving the need for…
A new Hortgro-funded initiative will extract more value from existing research investment. By Anna Mouton. South Africa has been called a world in one country partly thanks to our diverse natural environment. This might be great for tourists but poses…
Provar’s well-known fruit tastings showcase the latest cultivars and selections that belong to IP representatives and fruit breeders. The fruit tasting provides an opportunity for industry and consumers to taste, discuss and see the samples, simultaneously Provar gains valuable insight…
Consumers want uniformly dark green Granny Smith apples without blemishes. What light environment in the canopy will produce this result? Granny Smith is among the top three apple cultivars planted in South Africa, accounting for 13% of the total area…
By Elise-Marie Steenkamp In a career that spanned more than five decades, horticulturist Buks Nel, wondered about many things in life…and more specifically about apple trees. He has solved many plant riddles, made new discoveries (including his now-famous Bigbucks apple…
The full story — from orchard to shelf You pick up a bag of apples at your local supermarket, glance at the price, and think: seriously? It’s just fruit. But that reaction overlooks a surprisingly complex story that begins months…
From early on in her life, the odds were not necessarily in Elize Lambrechts Boer’s favour. But she refused to let it get to her. She never accepted her situation as fate. She looked life square in the eyes and…
By Jacques du Preez A second black swan event in two years and the impact thereof was completely unforeseen, dramatic, and severe. The industry was faced with fruit in transit prior to the war starting as well as further shipments…
In this column about the history of apple varieties in South Africa, we will investigate and explore why some varieties succeed and others disappear. The column will consist of extracts taken from a book by Henk Griessel and Buks Nel,…
By Elise-Marie Steenkamp Before she blew out her first birthday candle, Faith Nogemane’s life story is straight from a Hollywood script. She was born, 25 years ago as the last of her mother, Ellie’s six children – who at that…
Provar was established in 2013 as a cultivar development and support company, with a focus on independent, objective, and scientific evaluation and data management; in order to ensure complete independence and facilitating buy-in of potential clients. In 2015 Hortgro Pome,…
Based on remarks by political economist Ronak Gopaldas at the Hortforum meeting, March 2026 By Elise-Marie Steenkamp Three weeks into the war in Iran, the world is grappling with a conflict that is far more complex — and potentially far…