Pushing the boundaries of avo farming pays off

The Ernst family, owners of Allesbeste Boerdery in Tzaneen, are renowned for their pioneering research and development work in the avocado industry. Zander Ernst, director of marketing and production at Allesbeste, spoke to Magda du Toit about their latest project, which involves the trellising of avocado trees.

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Farmers face various challenges, but it's our problem-solving ideas and techniques that allow us to improve and overcome many of these hurdles," says Zander Ernst, director of marketing and production at the family-owned Allesbeste Boerdery in Tzaneen, Limpopo.

Avocados are highly susceptible to root rot caused by pathogens of the Phytophthora genus, which thrive in poorly drained soil.

To address this, many avocado farmers plant their orchards on mounds or ridges.

66 "Ridges address drainage and aeration challenges in clay-type soil in particular," says Ernst. "When making ridges, we can determine the soil composition, which gives us greater control over soil uniformity. On Allesbeste, with its poorly drained soil, ridges are the best solution, and when we use them in conjunction with perforated pipes and trenches into which access water can drain, we can manage the problem.

"A drawback of such a system, however, is that if the ridges are too high, it can be difficult to prune, spray and harvest the trees." He adds that if ridges are situated on steep slopes, they can cause severe erosion in high-rainfall areas and limit access to an orchard if not planned correctly.

ADVANCING THE FRONTIERS OF FARMING

While the Ernst family has benefitted from planting their avocado trees on ridges, they wanted to broaden their production horizons. "To achieve more, we had to shift the boundaries to produce new outcomes," says Ernst.

Due to the upright growth pattern of the high-yielding, semi-dwarfing Maluma cultivar, they thought it would be a perfect fit for their micro-management farming system.

"We evaluated our farming practices as well as the inherent characteristics of the Maluma to see what we could do differently to increase production. We also wanted to be accurate in our tasks, especially when it came to managing pruning branches to optimise yield per hectare.