Pioneer hosts these Agronomy Days in various parts of the country, and the days are characterised not only by the cultivars on display but also by the informative lectures presented.

Know your soil

The first speaker of the day was Prof Leon van Rensburg from Winfert, who spoke about fertilisation. He explained how a lack of soil knowledge can harm you in the long run. He said the next big leap in agriculture will be using soil bacteria to work with you — not against you. According to him, farmers must learn how to manipulate the material in their soil instead of relying on expensive and often less effective fertilisers and pesticides.

Goss’s bacterial wilt and leaf blight

Dr Rikus Kloppers of Robigalia Cropcare spoke about the recent increase in Goss’s bacterial wilt and leaf blight. This bacterial disease was first detected in South Africa in February 2024, and there is still no quick solution when it affects your crops. Rikus says that, in the end, the only solution will be resistant cultivars, but that is still some way off as testing is ongoing to understand the disease better. Maize and sorghum are the primary hosts, but Rikus believes it is a manageable disease.

“As with all new things, one tends to be fearful, but I must say, this isn’t the thing I fear most. It’s just a matter of getting to know it and learning how to manage it,” he said.

Soya bean, sunflower, and maize trials were planted on the site and shown to farmers during the day.

Impressive trials

After the lectures, farmers could walk through the trial plots. Charl de Wet, Pioneer’s Area Agent for Lichtenburg-East, Coligny, and Gerdau, has been a Pioneer sales agent in the Sannieshof area for eighteen years.

He explained that farmers attend these days to view new cultivars. In the past, they merely introduced cultivars to the farmers, but this year they aimed to do more. Therefore, short lectures were offered at each crop.

Johan Kock spoke about maize and root development, Philip Fourie informed visitors about sunflower diseases, and Hanno Maree discussed Blue N from Corteva Biologicals. Charl noted that farmers in the area are looking for longer-season soya beans. They seek cultivars that hold their pods high for easier harvesting and fall into a growth class 6 to better handle the dry western conditions.

For this, Pioneer’s P64T39R and P71T74R soya bean cultivars are very effective.

Regarding sunflowers, farmers mostly look at Pioneer’s Clearfield cultivars to keep their fields clean. For this reason, P65LP54 and P65LP65 sunflower cultivars are popular. Nelis Potgieter, Pioneer’s Area Manager in the west, said they want farmers to see how the cultivars will adapt to farms in the region.

“We want to give farmers sustainable solutions for their maize or other crops,” said Nelis. In the Sannieshof area, drought is one of the biggest concerns for farmers.

He added, “We are a rain-dependent area; our rain has come late in recent seasons, and last season we hardly had any rain. This year, we had a very difficult planting season.”

Still, he is very happy with how well their cultivars performed. The top maize cultivars for marginal soils in the area include P2565WPW, which comes with the new PowerCore™ gene and dual worm resistance, as well as a RoundUp gene. For high-potential field and sandy soils, P2885WPW — also containing the PowerCore™ gene — is recommended. For yellow maize, P29050R with the RoundUp gene performs best.

Dirk van Niekerk, Pioneer Sales Agent for Lichtenburg-West, Sannieshof, Baberspan, Vermaas, and part of Maretsane, has been with Pioneer for fifteen years.

Dirk explained that Pioneer has been conducting trials at the farm Verdiend in Sannieshof since 2010, and they have hosted Agronomy Days there for the past six years. The farm belongs to Lourens van Wyk, a very loyal Pioneer customer.

He noted that Pioneer is now more focused on hybrids exclusively suited to the dry western regions, from the first trials planted at Hooggekraal in Potchefstroom.

“We can look at multi-ear traits in the area, because here we plant at lower populations compared to, for example, the east. We focus on hybrids for lower populations, multiple ears, and strong root development, which all suit these dry conditions. When we look at the past few years, you can see how well the hybrids performed and how ideally suited they are for these conditions,” said Dirk.

He believes farmers should choose Pioneer because they offer stability. “In good rainfall years, it should give you high yields, but one also seeks stability when it is dry. When you look at Pioneer hybrids, you are looking at yield stability, good disease resistance, strong standing ability, and excellent root development. This whole combination delivers strong yields at the end of the day,” Dirk explained.

According to Nelis, he is very pleased with the success of the day. He says Pioneer offers customers a diversified solution in terms of cultivar choice.

For more information or inquiries, farmers can contact Pioneer via e-mail at info.rsa@pioneer.com or visit their website at www.pioneer.com/za.