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Author: Firstfruits Consulting Website

26 Feb 2018
Lemons
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From fruit hawker to successful lemon exporter

Jeandré du Preez
Farmers Weekly

Although Wayne Mansfield made useful connections in the fruit industry as a hawker, he knew little about farming. However, with the help of a grant and mentorship, he established a lemon farm near Paarl in 2013, and last year boosted his exports by 400%.

Before starting his lemon farming operation, Fruit Field Farming, just outside Paarl, Wayne Mansfield was a fruit hawker. “I grew up in Pniel and got involved in the fruit business by helping my uncle after school and over the weekends for pocket money. He’d buy the fruit from local farmers and I’d help pack the fruit to be sold at the Epping market,” he recalls. READ MORE

25 Jan 2018
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Effect of Foliar Application of Micronutrients on the Yield and Quality of Sweet Orange

M. Tariq, M. Sharif, Z. Shah and R. Khan
Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan
Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences

An experiment was designed to study the effect of foliar application of micronutrients on the yield, quality and leaf composition of Sweet Orange, Blood Red variety at Shabazgari, Mardan.

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24 Jan 2018
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Helping farmers one tree at a time

Aerobotics

Aerobotics
Media Release

Revolutionary Aeroview Scout in-field app launched by Aerobotics helps highlight problem areas in the orchard, helping farmers save costs and water.

Cape Town, 5 December 2017 – Leading South African technology company, Aerobotics, which specialises in providing on-demand satellite and drone analytics for farmers, today officially launched the revolutionary Aeroview Scout in-field smartphone app that highlights problem areas in the orchard with GPS co-ordinates, allowing farmers to make notes, take pictures and remedy any issues early.

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12 Dec 2017
Citrus Scarring
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Photographic Guide to Citrus Fruit Scarring

Elizabeth E. Grafton-Cardwell
UC Cooperative Extension IPM Specialist and Research Entomologist| UC Riverside;
Neil N. O’Connell
UCCE Farm Advisor | Tulare County;
Craig E. Kallsen
UCCE Farm Advisor | Kern County; and
Joseph G. Morse
Professor of Entomology and Entomologist| UC Riverside.
Photography by Jack Kelly Clark, Elizabeth E. Grafton-Cardwell,Craig E. Kallsen, and Alan A. Urena.

Scarring of the rind of citrus fruit can prompt packinghouse operators to downgrade the fruit from fancy to choice or even juice.  If you as the grower can recognize the different types of scars you can differentiate between symptoms that indicate biological (e.g., insect, mite, disease, or snail), mechanical (e.g., equipment, hail, or wind rubbing), or chemical e.g., phytotoxic burn) damage. Once you know the causal agent you can take steps to reduce injury to future crops.

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11 Dec 2017
Fruit drop in ‘Midknight’ Valencia
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An investigation of excessive fruit drop in the Eastern and Western Cape during the 2016/17 season

Jakkie (OPJ) Stander
Citrus Research International | Department of Horticultural Science, University of Stellenbosch
E-mail: jakkie@sun.ac.za

In 2017 citrus producers in the Eastern and Western Cape reported abnormal levels of premature fruit drop in a range of different citrus cultivars. In some orchards fruit drop levels of up to 80% of the total yield were recorded. This report is based on an investigation conducted in May 2017 which considered as many potential contributing factors as possible. It aimed to describe the nature of the fruit drop problem and provide future recommendations.

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02 Dec 2017
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Smart farming ‘eye in the sky’

Paul Bakibinga and Dickens Olewe
BBC News

With global population set to top 10 billion by 2050, the UN says agricultural output needs to rise by 70%.

Africa will be key as it is home to two-thirds of the world’s uncultivated arable land.

The BBC’s Taurai Maduna has been to South Africa’s Western Cape to see how drones and data analytics are set to change the game.

BBC2017

Click the above image to view the full video.

01 Dec 2017
Aeroview
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Boer nou presies en winsgewend

Johan van der Merwe
Landbouweekblad Agri Megaweek Promosie

As presisieboerdery vir jou ’n mikpunt is, is Aeroview ’n uitstekende hulpmiddel in jou boerdery.

Aerobotics, ’n tegnologiemaatskappy van Kaapstad, se digitale platform is nou bekostigbaarder en gebruikersvriendeliker as ooit. Die maatskappy is al meer as drie jaar lank gemoeid om dataverwerking vir die landbou bruikbaar te maak.

Mnr. Hein Gerber, sitrusboer van die First Fruit Farms by Simondium naby die Paarl, sê Aeroview, Aerobotics se dataverwerkingsplatform, is die gebruikersvriendelikste platform wat hy nog teëgekom het.

“Vir die boer wat bereid is om moeite te doen en ’n behoefte het om in meer detail presisieboerderypraktyke toe pas, sal hierdie platform gewis van waarde wees.

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19 Feb 2016
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How to reduce irrigated water consumption from already highly strained water resources using the latest in irrigation scheduling software.

With current drought conditions being experienced in the North West, Free State, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Mpumalanga, the South African irrigation farmer is, now more than ever, faced with the problem of “how to produce more, with less”, and to make every drop count.

In order to manage our strained water resources, as well as practice good environmentally sustainable practices, farmers rapidly have to introduce new technologies to improve their efficiencies and yields. In the irrigation farming environment, irrigation scheduling appears to be the most popular and cost effective way to achieve just that.

Irricheck™ is independent of hardware manufacturers, however, prescribe that the most efficient irrigation scheduling hardware in use currently is the continuous logging soil moisture capacitance probe, coupled to a GPRS unit, in order to measure live soil-moisture content and temperature data.

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