Redaksie | Editorial
I
’ve had a wonderful time sourcing the content
on this month’s topic: Utilization and maintenance of our resources in agriculture in a sustainable manner. More important was the journey
I’ve had scrutinizing the latest news in this regard
available on the Web and finding some extraordinary
contributions and goodwill to republish a number of
articles from abroad: articles and topics which made
me rethink the whole concept of “resources” from a
totally new angle.
If you try to find a definition of resources on the internet, you encounter a myriad of ideas an end up
with no clear answer. One tends to consider water,
soil, sun, wind and the like as the primary resources.
So often, however, one forgets the human brain and
its capacity to manipulate technology, the animals
and plants nature offers, their products and byproducts, to name but a few. If you combine these,
you end up with incredible new ideas, concepts and
extraordinary technological advances towards real
sustainability, food security.
Not only did we focus on the obvious resources and
their use this month, but also on some resources, perhaps alternative, but still resources and in itself totally
new and exciting concepts – I’m referring to our articles on the use of donkey milk and the (only recently
realised) use of the baobab tree as a sustainable
source of nutrients for Africa and the local and international developments in this regard.
For those of us who were born BC (Before Computers), the word "robot" invokes images of characters
like Artoo Detoo (R2-D2) and See-Threepio (C-3PO)
from Star Wars movies. We were dreaming of having
our own robot to take over mundane tasks like weeding the garden or vacuuming the house...
What was science fiction in the previous century, has
become the reality: a robot that can do all the planting, watering, and weeding in your vegetable garden!
Read more about this exciting “open source” development: the 3D printed FarmBot Genesis.
The recent exit of Great Britain from the European
Union has definite implications for agriculture in
South Africa. I trust you will find the contribution on
the implications of Brexit and the advice offered to
the farming community, of value in your personal
circumstances.
I hope you will find this edition of AgriKultuur/Culture
an informative read!
Till next time
Chris