Aerobotics aims to perform the most difficult tasks on behalf of the grower: going out into the field to collect data, track growth and monitor pest and disease pressure. These tasks traditionally come with a high labour cost and low accuracy due to human error and few sample points, coupled with poor documentation. “Growers experience [...]
“Our clementines have been in harvesting stage for the last 10 days. We’re looking at shipping this week,” says Mario Masellis of Catania in Mississauga, Ontario. “The crop quality and size are looking really good—Brix levels are between 10-11.5 and acids are .9-.1.1 which are really perfect conditions.” Clementines from South Africa ship into the [...]
A historic occasion was marked on Monday 6 May 2019 at the Durban quayside facility of Maydon Fruit Terminal (MFT) with the first co-loading of citrus for Japan and China on a break bulk or reefer vessel. This was witnessed by Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Senzeni Zokwana, Deputy Minister Sfiso Buthelezi, Deputy [...]
Early soft citrus volumes are coming in slower than last year because of weather factors, particularly in the north of the country, but the delay is not regarded as concerning at this stage. By the end of week 16, 400,000 15kg-equivalent cartons had been shipped, which is 700,000 cartons lower than the same time last [...]
Agri SA has partnered with Fidelity ADT, a subsidiary of the Fidelity Services Group, to offer a range of services and products to its members and the rural community in an attempt to curb the unacceptably high number of farm attacks and related agricultural crime. According to Agri SA, farm attacks in 2017/2018 had increased [...]
The South African citrus season is just around the corner and Summer Citrus from South Africa is preparing for the first shipments which are due to begin at the end of May. South African fruit is likely to become available in the US from early to mid-June. In terms of citrus varieties, easy peelers will [...]
This legend will always be remembered for a twinkle in his eye and a can do attitude. When a challenge arose he did not only approach it, but ran towards it in order to sort it out. This legend should have been called “Mr Collaboration” – he firmly believed that doing things together was better [...]
The start to the Pink Lady season in South Africa’s eastern Free State has been thrilling, with producers waiting on cooler temperatures for colour development which finally came about 10 days ago and last Monday it was all hands on deck to get the apples off. Originally the start of the Free State Pink Lady [...]
The South African industry should be very concerned about Asian greening disease, Dr Vaughan Hattingh, CEO of Citrus Research International, told delegates of the recent citrus summit in Port Elizabeth. The South African arrival of the disease, also called huanglongbing (HLB), is not a case of if, but rather when. “When you get the Asian [...]
The citrus growers from Southern Africa will export a record crop of close to 137 million boxes of citrus fruit to more than 100 countries this year. The rise in exports should translate into job opportunities, more foreign exchange revenue and a growing economy. This provisional export estimate was presented to the Citrus Marketing Forum [...]
