Grain SA's research roadshow highlights farmer-led innovation

Grain SA’s 2025 Western Cape Research Roadshow connected farmers and researchers, sharing advances in plant breeding, pest control, climate tools, and economics to strengthen resilience and profitability in South Africa’s grain industry.

- By Octavia Avesca Spandiel reports.

Grain SA hosted its 2025 Western Cape Research Roadshow at Moorreesburg and Rietpoel, bringing together farmers, researchers, and stakeholders to strengthen collaboration in the grain sector.

Supported by John Deere Financial and Absa, the event aimed to share the latest research findings while giving farmers a platform to voice their challenges.

Speaking to Farmer's Weekly, Dr Godfrey Kgatle, research coordinator at Grain SA, said the roadshow was about two things: “It gives farmers feedback on the research being done, and listens carefully to the realities they face, ensuring that research remains aligned, relevant, and impactful.”

The programme covered plant breeding, pests and diseases, weed management, agronomic data, climate challenges, and the economics of winter grains.

DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING

Karen Truter of Stellenbosch University presented the Data Intensive Farm Management Project, a global initiative with the University of Illinois in the US and local partners.

Trials in South Africa have tested different wheat cultivars, production systems, and soil conditions to show how farmers can optimise input use.

“Our trials show that the economic optimum is not always the same as the agronomic optimum. Sometimes higher input levels give a slightly better yield, but the cost of those inputs eats away at profitability,” Truter added.

She said precision management using yield maps, Normalised Difference Vegetation Index imagery, and digital platforms can cut input costs without reducing yields.

This immediately gives farmers more resilient systems.

ADVANCES IN PLANT BREEDING