This week’s agriculture events: 05 - 11 April

Happy Family Day, Mzansi! Get your calendars out and take note of this week’s  agriculture  events that are taking place throughout South Africa, as well as online to be accessed from the comfort of your own home.

Check out the daily events calendar on Food for Mzansi’s  homepage and this events listing, published every Monday, to learn about informative, insightful of lucrative agriculture events.  Email info@foodformzansi.co.za to add your event to the calendar.

Monday, 05 April

Online training on crop protection and safe use of pesticides

The Pan-African Farmers’ Organisation is undertaking online training on crop protection and safe use of pesticides to be held over four weeks in April. The e-training is designed for farmers, technical staff and agronomists who want to learn about the principles and skills relating to integrated crop protection and safe pesticide use.

There will be one two-hour webinar each week during April, with the first session starting today and a workshop every week for the rest of April.

The sessions will take place online via Zoom. Registered participants are requested to attend all four online sessions to ensure smooth running of the course, so they will need to be motivated and organised. A certificate of attendance will be delivered to all those who take part in all the sessions.

You can register here and find more info here.

Tuesday, 06 April

Rubizmo Café Talks: What is carbon neutrality in agriculture?

In three 30-minute sessions spread over April a group of international experts from GreenFlex and RISE will introduce you to innovative ideas for your rural business.

The first session will examine what carbon neutrality means with regards to agriculture, with ideas of how this can also create a wider economic, social and environmental benefits for local areas. The second part will present what fossil free energy solutions in agriculture exist today, and what is coming in the near to long term. The third and final session will focus on biochar and its practical uses for rural businesses.

Interested participants can register here for this week’s webinar starting today at 13:00. Find more info here.

African Resilience investment series for women entrepreneurs

AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) in partnership with RENEW Strategies will be launching the African Resilience and Investments Series for Women Entrepreneurs (ARISE).

This webinar will bring together top female leaders within the agribusiness ecosystem including financing partners and development partners, to share their perspectives and highlight the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on women’s SMEs, and share ideas on recovery and resilience measures. The project launch is also intended to raise awareness about the need to support the recovery of women’s SMEs and to solicit a multi-agency response to post-Covid-19 recovery for women in agriculture.

The hour-longlaunch starts at 16:00. Register here to take part.

Wednesday, 07 April

Thirteenth annual green technologies conference

This year’s annual green technologies conference is themed “secure and clean energy systems for the 21st century”. This three-day conference is organised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

The aim of the GreenTech conference is to serve as a forum for engineers, researchers and specialists from academia, research centres and industry worldwide to discuss and present the latest developments and applications related to the challenges of securing green and clean energy sources to protect the environment.

Find more info by clicking here, and register here.

Thursday, 08 April

Decolonising our relationships with plants

Join the Goethe-Institut Johannesburg for an online conversation with three experts on the politics, pleasure and practicalities of indigenous plants. This discussion will cover topics such as traditional/indigenous food gathering, cultivation, preparation and sharing practices; traditional and indigenous concepts of the relationship between food, land and health; as well as some practical examples of what decolonising our relationship with plants might look like.

This event is the third in a series of engagements organised by the We Will All Eat Collective and supported by the Goethe-Institut. We Will All Eat seeks to broaden and deepen discussions on food and social justice in South Africa, in order to strengthen movements for food system — and broader social — transformation.

The online conversation will start at 16:00 and can be accessed on Zoom or on the Facebook event.

Allemanskraal farming auction

The auction takes place from 11:30 at De Kruis, Aberdeen. Contact Pierre Martin Lombard on 079 284 8992 for more info.

Train to adjudicate cattle auctions with the Simbra referee course

This is a two-day beginners training course offered by the Cape Town University of Technology (CPUT). Contact info@simbra.org for more details.

Interactive, web-based course for substrate design and mushroom cultivation

This online training course is a two-day entrepreneurial, gourmet mushroom cultivation course provided by the South African Gourmet Mushroom Academy.

The course costs are R3999 for the two days, but there is also an option to do just either of the two days. Visit the training website for more information and to book your place.

Practical aquaculture feed management

This focused training offered by the Aquaculture Africa Magazine session will deal with all practical aquaculture feed management aspects including feed choices, buying, transport, storage and handling, feed programmes, feeding techniques, tracking feed efficiencies and more. The training will be presented by well-known experts Karen Veverica and Harrison Karisa – both of which have a wealth of experience in aquaculture.