The best thing farmers can do for peace of mind is to insure their operations against risks. Agnovate creates and provides cutting-edge crop production insurance products that cover a range of stakeholders in the agricultural supply chain. This includes primary producers and corporate clients like financiers, input suppliers, processors, and storage facilities.
JG Shields, the co-founder of Agnovate, shares more about soil moisture insurance and how it benefits farmers.
Shields says soil moisture as we know, even in our own private gardens, is the most fundamental resource for any seed to germinate and the plant to grow. “The same with any commercial farming operation, and the difference between irrigation and rainfed is that nature irrigates the soil in a rainfed environment,” he says.
Understanding soil moisture
In any critical stage of a plant’s existence – from germination right through where the plant matures – soil moisture is vital for the plant’s growth and production performance.
Soil moisture is mainly a function of rain, but it is not completely correlated with rain. This is because lots of rain can fall in a very short space of time, however, the rain will run off the soil and it will not penetrate the soil.
“So, the rainwater is captured by the soil and that becomes available for the plant to utilise. Soil moisture is not the only important natural resource. We also have resources such as heat-units and sunlight but there is a very high correlation between soil moisture and the eventual performance of any plant that includes the cash crops farmers are planting,” Shields explains.
Moisture levels across South Africa
South Africa is a very diverse country from a natural resource perspective, and there are areas with high rainfall and areas with low rainfall. In both of those areas, there is soil with different characteristics and production potential.
In this episode, Shields also discusses:
- Risk factors; and
- Advice to farmers.
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