Tickets are now available for the SADC Plant Nutrition Symposium, bringing growers, consultants, researchers and industry together in Stellenbosch this November. Early-bird tickets are R2 950 until 31 October, with online attendance also available.
For growers across Southern Africa, the question is rarely whether plant nutrition matters. It is how to make better decisions about what goes into the soil, when it is applied and how those decisions translate into healthier crops, better resource use and stronger farm performance.
That is the thinking behind the SADC Plant Nutrition Symposium, taking place on Thursday, 19 and Friday, 20 November 2026 at the Protea Hotel, Technopark, Stellenbosch.
Under the tagline “From world-class research to your soil and crop”, the two-day event aims to put the latest plant nutrition research and technology in front of the people who ultimately have to make it work in the field.
For Dr Michael Southwood, founder of the Agri Vision Foundation and organiser of the symposium, that practical connection is at the heart of the event.
“The main purpose is to present the latest technology and research to the audience, so farmers, consultants and farm managers can successfully implement it on the farms,” Southwood says.
Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi
The symposium is expected to bring together around 350 growers, farm managers, consultants, researchers, fertiliser experts, industry representatives, tertiary education professionals and emerging farmers.
And while the event is hosted in South Africa, the organisers are positioning it as a conversation for the wider SADC agricultural community.
Eight symposia and counting
The Stellenbosch event is not the Agri Vision Foundation’s first attempt to bring agricultural professionals together around technical knowledge.
“We have successfully hosted eight symposia in the last six years, with approximately a thousand attendees,” Southwood says.
The latest event builds on that experience, with a programme spanning everything from soil analysis and fertiliser formulations to precision agriculture, fertigation, biological inputs and regenerative farming.
For a region as agriculturally diverse as SADC, that breadth matters.
Production systems range from dryland cropping to highly intensive irrigated agriculture, while growers operate across different soils, climates, crops and production constraints.
The symposium aims to create a space where those differences can form part of the conversation, rather than treating plant nutrition as a one-size-fits-all exercise.
Click here to register for the SADC Plant Nutrition Symposium.
From fertiliser choice to precision application
The programme covers a broad range of issues affecting plant nutrition decisions, with a strong emphasis on practical application.
Sessions will explore fertiliser categories, new formulations and application techniques, as well as the importance of proper soil sampling and analysis. Participants will also look at soil compaction, pre-season soil amelioration, nutrient corrections and salt management.
There will be a particular focus on technologies changing how nutrients are managed.
These include coated, slow-release and controlled-release fertilisers, precision agriculture technologies for optimising fertiliser placement, micro-irrigation and drip systems, and nitrogen-release technology.
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The programme also moves beyond the traditional focus on the major nutrients.
Trace elements, as well as secondary nutrients such as magnesium, sulphur and calcium, will feature alongside discussions on their role in crop production and disease suppression.
For growers exploring biological and more holistic approaches to soil management, the symposium will also examine organic, semi-organic and enriched fertilisers, including kelp-based products, as well as crop rotation, cover crops, green manures, compost and mulches.
Another key theme is getting the balance right.
Understanding a soil’s characteristics and nutrient requirements is essential not only for addressing deficiencies, but also for avoiding over-fertilisation and nutrient toxicities.
Turning research into something farmers can use
Southwood says the event has a purpose beyond filling two days with technical presentations.
The goal is to shorten the distance between what is being discovered in research and what ultimately happens in the field.
That means asking practical questions about how fertiliser should be matched to a particular soil and crop, how nutrients can be placed more effectively, what precision technology can actually measure, and where fertigation, foliar applications and biological products fit into modern production systems.
For Southwood, there is also a bigger reason for hosting the event.
“The main motivation of the symposium is to fund the operational cost of our nonprofit company, Agri Vision Foundation, that focuses on food security, entrepreneurship and healthy families.”
Dr Michael Southwood
In other words, the ticket bought by a farmer, consultant or industry professional does more than provide access to two days of technical content.
It also contributes towards the foundation’s longer-term work in communities where food security, livelihoods and family wellbeing remain pressing concerns.
A regional conversation in Stellenbosch
The symposium’s SADC focus is particularly relevant at a time when farmers across the region are navigating input costs, water constraints, changing weather patterns and the pressure to produce more efficiently.
Bringing growers, advisers, researchers and industry into the same room creates an opportunity to exchange not only research findings, but practical experiences from different production environments.
And for those who cannot make the journey to Stellenbosch, the organisers are offering an online option, with every session live-streamed.
In-person tickets include coffee, lunch and snacks, while the online ticket provides access to the full programme remotely.
Tickets now available
Early-bird, in-person tickets are R2 950 until Saturday, 31 October, after which the standard price is R3 950. Online attendance is available for R2 750, with all sessions live-streamed.
For growers, consultants, researchers and agri-industry professionals across SADC looking to connect the latest thinking in plant nutrition with what happens in the soil and crop, the symposium offers two days of technical insight, practical discussion and networking.
Click here to register for the SADC Plant Nutrition Symposium.
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