Food and clean water start with soil biodiversity

Although soils are vital for agriculture, biodiversity, and clean water, this below-ground world is often overlooked. The loss of life below the ground due to intensification of agriculture, climate change, erosion, and compaction, among other things, is one of the biggest global threats to soils. Many organisms live in the soil. In fact, about 25% of all biodiversity occur…

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To restore our soils, feed the microbes

Our soils are in trouble. Over the past century, we have abused them with ploughing, tilling and too much fertilizer. What many thinks of as “just dirt” is an incredibly complex mixture of rock-derived minerals, plant-derived organic matter, dissolved nutrients, gases, and a rich food web of interacting organisms. By ploughing and overtilling, we have…

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Water in agriculture

Water is a critical input for agricultural production and plays an important role in food security. Irrigated agriculture represents 20 percent of the total cultivated land and contributes 40 percent of the total food produced worldwide. Irrigated agriculture is, on average, at least twice as productive per unit of land as rainfed agriculture, thereby allowing…

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Wes-Kaap Jongoer 2021

Alexander Gibson: Agri Wes-Kaap Santam Landbou se Jongboer van die Jaar 2021 Die 32-jarige Alexander Gibson van Ceres in die Witzenberg Vallei is Woensdagaand 19 Mei tydens ‘n glansgeleentheid in die Paarl as die Agri Wes-Kaap Santam Landbou Jongboer van die Jaar aangewys. Hy sal die Wes-Kaap later vanjaar by die nasionale Agri SA Toyota…

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