Taking stock of ‘the worst of all bee diseases’
Did you know that nine in every ten honeybee hives found in the Western Cape are used to pollinate local agricultural crops and produce? And...
Category : Agriculture
Maize science to make pig farming more profitable
A tip for pig farmers: use maize cobs as a source of feed if you want to limit your overheads and make your enterprise more...
Plantation fires: What to do with burnt trees?
It has been an exceptional fire season in the Cape, with many hectares of fynbos veld and plantations being burnt. The skeletons of many trees...
Biologists blunt the sting of a tree-killing alien wasp
by Sarah Wild
The Sirex wasp and its deadly passenger have brought the prospect of ruin to the pine industry, but geneticists have a shrewd plan to fight...
Biltong research on a tropical island
Having to visit a tropical island to do research on biltong? It sounds almost too good to be true, but that’s the experience that Maxine...
Bushmen cure-all offers locals a sustainable income
by Sarah Wild
The commercial potential of intoxicating kougoed, or Sceletium tortuosum, is reinvigorating a Nourivier community in the Northern Cape. Oom Jap, a Nourivier resident and traditional...
Climate change, farming and profits: It all depends
How will climate change affect the profit margins of farming endeavours throughout South Africa? It all depends on how rainfall, temperature and the subsequent need...
Products of origin: taking a page from the Rooibos industry’s book
The ins and outs of trade law is a science in itself. For a case study with a very distinct local flavour, there’s none better...
Doctoring bananas
Plant pathologist Dr Diane Mostert is helping to unravel some of the intricacies surrounding the genetic make-up of a fungus that is devastating banana plantations...
Sunblock for your apples, anyone?
When horticulturalist Dr Elmi Lötze of Stellenbosch University set out to test a mineral mixture on ‘Golden Delicious’ apples, she was hoping that it would...