Sustainable agriculture is a buzzword that has been on everyone’s lips. And if it’s not, it should be. Sustainable agriculture forces farmers to take a forward-thinking approach to their agribusinesses and anticipate what they’ll be capable of growing or breeding in the next 10 years due to the availability of natural resources that are crucial for sustaining farm production.
Nedbank Commercial Banking’s head of sales for agriculture, Daneel Rossouw, discusses sustainability and how it can help farmers both financially and to adapt to changing climatic conditions.
Rossouw explains in this podcast episode why moving from conventional farming to conservation farming makes business sense. According to him, a sustainable agricultural approach requires farmers to be financially sustainable as well.
“Sustainability is not only about humanity adapting to change and finding ways towards sustainable use of natural resources over the long term, it also provides significant financial benefits to farmers. Although setup costs can be high, it must be noted that the productive life-span of these investments can be seen as long-term,” Rossouw says.
He unpacks existing examples across the country that have ensured the sustainability of farmers.
Sustainable partnerships
Rossouw also gives insight into how technology and innovation are helping sustainable farming be more profitable and productive.
Nedbank has partnered with key players in aid of conservation farming goals. According to Rossouw, it is becoming increasingly difficult not to be sustainable as a sector without partnerships.
“Nedbank has been very fortunate to be in a partnership with WWF South Africa for the last 33 years. We’ve been partners through the WWF Nedbank Green Trust since 1990 focusing a lot on conservation.”
He shares how the partnership started and how strategically important it has been for sustainable farming, especially in the wine industry.
In this episode, Rossouw also discusses:
- The benefits of working with nature instead of against; and
- Funding sustainable farming projects and more
Want to know more? Listen to the full episode of Farmer’s Inside Track.
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Option 3: Click here to listen on Google Podcast.
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