Quarantine, diagnostics, and laboratory networks support biosecurity within a global context of constrained resources. By Jenny Underhill. “Emerging or invasive pests may cause food insecurity, limit economic growth, and lead to unemployment,” said Nolan Africander, speaking at the 2026 Hortgro…
Embracing technology can help growers farm more efficiently and sustainably. By Jenny Underhill. “Cigarette lighters are amazing, aren’t they? But what do they have to do with agriculture?” asked Arie van Ravenswaay, Assistant Director for Innovation, Technology Design and Transfer…
Rest-breaking agents are indispensable in mild winter regions, but their limitations must be heeded. By Jenny Underhill. Deciduous fruit trees evolved in Northern-hemisphere regions with very cold winters. These trees naturally go dormant at the onset of cold weather as…
A sporadic pest identified as Oxycarenus annulipes is the focus of a new Hortgro-funded project. By Jenny Underhill. In the 2022–23 harvest season, two farms observed infestations of Lygaied bugs belonging to the genus Oxycarenus. The farms, located near Paarl…
The newly formed Precision Crop Protection Workgroup provides a platform to focus on sustainable crop-protection practices. By Jenny Underhill. “I think the agricultural sector in South Africa is becoming more conscious of the fact that we have to make changes,”…
Reducing loss and waste by implementing evidence-based solutions is the key to increasing sustainability in the Postharvest Programme. By Jenny Underhill. “We want minimal loss of fruit on the farm so that growers can pack and sell more cartons of…
Jan Theron grew up on an apple and pear farm in Vyeboom, near Grabouw. “I’ve been in a farm set-up my whole life and always found it interesting. It’s why I decided to study horticulture at Stellenbosch University,” he says…
After finishing high school in Bellville, Cape Town, Chad van Wyk started working in customer service. He was three years in when he flipped a coin to decide whether to accept a permanent, career-building position at a big corporation or…
The search continues for chemical rest-breaking alternatives to hydrogen cyanamide for South Africa’s pome-fruit industry. By Jenny Underhill. Rest-breaking agents stimulate and synchronise bud break in fruit crops that do not receive adequate winter chilling to overcome dormancy. Since most…
A project comparing three methods to determine water use finds that they provide similar results. By Jenny Underhill. “We could estimate the water requirements of plums based on international work, but there wasn’t a dedicated study on plums in South…