HOW TO PLAN FOR VARIABLE MAIZE PLANTING CONDITIONS
Over the past five years, production conditions on Pierre van Eeden’s farm, Heuninglaagte, near Edenville in the Free State, have been different every single year.
This has necessitated constant changes in production practices, including planting time, planting method and soil preparation.
A short planting window and limited capacity have added to the difficulties, forcing him to change his tillage practices three times over the past five years.
“At the start of this cycle, my practice was to disc, then wait for rain. The plan was to rip in late October and try to start planting by around 10 November.
“In 2018, though, there was no time to disc. So I adapted my ripper and just went in.”
In the 2018/2019 season, Van Eeden again changed his approach in his efforts to achieve sustainable production. After years of research into no-till, and deciding it was not the ideal option for his operation, he decided to try strip
