Technical Yearbook 2023

JANUARY/FEBRUARY

Outsmarting tomorrow By Louise Duminy

“As a species, we have failed. We are already exceeding the earth’s carrying capacity.”

Stark words, and a grim opening to the recent Climate Smart Agriculture Convention hosted by WinField United South Africa. But now is not the time to cottonwool much-needed conversations about today and tomorrow. The opening message from Professor Eugene Cloete, former Deputy Vice Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, did not beat around the bush, “we have witnessed a global population explosion never thought possible in the last few decades”. With billions of mouths to feed, a futile war on single-use plastics, increasing human migration patterns and carbon-coughing innovations, the initially gradual and now snowballing effect of climate change has never been a more spine-chilling reality. In August 2021, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report concluding that there is no doubt that human activity is causing climate change. The report estimates that current temperatures are about 1.0°C higher than pre-industrial temperatures and predicts that temperatures will likely warm by 1.5°C by the early 2030s. Temperature increases of 1.5 to 2°C are regarded as dangerous. Warming in the interior of the Southern Africa region is of particular concern and occurs at about twice the global average, which heightens the risk of extreme events, such as droughts and heatwaves. About 12 000 years ago, human lives changed forever when agricultural systems developed, and societies switched from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to permanent settlements and farming. Today agriculture not only sustains life by providing the food we need to survive, but also creates much-needed employment, plays a big role in

the international trade business, and helps people prosper around the globe. Resource depletion and climate change pose major challenges to this cornerstone of the world’s sustainability. The time was ripe to create a platform for strategic thinkers and leaders in various industries to collaborate and find urgent solutions to facilitate resilience in the agriculture industry. Is it not too late already? In the words of the Champion of the Earth, Sir David Attenborough, “there is still time to change, and what we do in the next few years, will determine the outcome of the next few thousand years”. This sentiment set the scene for the Climate Smart Agriculture Convention held outside Somerset West in the Western Cape in October 2022. Although we cannot reverse the effects of climate change, it is vital that we do everything possible to mitigate change, be prepared and protect the agriculture industry. It was a sight for sore eyes to see the venue occupied with experts, doctorates, risk mitigators and climate scientists alike. According to Dr Peter Johnston, a Climate Scientist affiliated with the University of Cape Town, climate change does not just bring about problematic events like severe drought and increasing fire patterns. It also causes dramatic changes in how plants react and grow, and new pest and disease patterns that farmers now need to face and battle. All the keynote speakers agreed that data is a non negotiable necessity for a sustainable future, and more effort is required to facilitate accurate insights into better on-farm management, planning, optimised input and risk reduction. A lack of data simply means we are unprepared for the future. Dr Miekie Human from Grain SA highlighted the fact that farmers must invest in climate smart agriculture practices, such as conservation agriculture. It might mean an initial

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TECHNICAL YEARBOOK 2023