'Nature Farming' Takes Compost to a New Level
- Apr 8, 2017
- 1 min read
It may not be completely organic, but a philosophy based on “harmony with nature” has worked wonders for soil health, productivity and the surrounding environment for South Africa’s largest tomato grower, ZZ2.
The company’s ‘Natuurboerdery’ (Nature Farming) practices range from composting, plant extract application and using predatory insects all the way through to more standard measures like the choice of rootstocks, growing regions, planting times and varieties.
At Fresh Fruit Portal we had the opportunity to see (and smell) some of these processes at ZZ2’s Mooketsi facility in the northern South African province of Limpopo, in the lead-up to Allesbeste Nursery’s ‘Maluma Day’ last month.
“Physically mining your soils and your environment in order to produce crops is not sustainable,” said the company’s chief agronomist Bertus Venter.
“We want to do as little as possible to the environment to disturb it – we also look at what the nature and environment give back to you that you can actually utilize in your farming practices.”
To elaborate he described an inherent balance in nature which is upset every time a crop is planted.
“So if you only have tomatoes there, nature is saying ‘we like more diversity’ and then there are a few soil-borne diseases and a few worms are going to eat some of the tomatoes.
“But if you have good farming practices you start to let nature be a bit more forgiving."
Scot Nelson
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