Pannar's strategy to help farmers improve yield - come what may

Grant Pringle, lead agronomist at Pannar Seed, spoke to Ellis Mnyendu about the company's efforts to develop high-yielding products adapted to a fast-changing environment.

- Ellis Mnyendu

How do you see agricultural innovation evolving over the next decade, especially in terms of crop and soil science?

Seed companies are using genetics to increase crop production at an ever-increasing rate. This means that the top-end yield potential of crops such as maize, soya bean and sunflower is steadily improving.

To convert this potential yield into improved yield per hectare, farmers will have to increase their use of fertiliser, not only to capture the value in the crop, but to prevent mining out the nutrient levels in their soils.

This is particularly important after consecutive years of bumper crops, as has been experienced over the past few seasons in many areas of South Africa. In my opinion, crop removal in a number of regions has far exceeded fertilisation levels over the past few seasons.

Because of its accuracy at determining nutrient levels, grid sampling of lands is likely to become even more widely adopted.

What are Pannar’s core strategic priorities in view of the effects of climate change and the need for agricultural sustainability?

Pannar has always regarded adaptation as an important criterion when launching new products into the market.