From the Editor
Carol Posthumus
Greenhouses are being explored as part of water conservation and to boost food production in many parts of the world .
We are pleased in this edition to bring you many fascinating greenhouse and undercover growing stories . Herbs and citrus grown undercover in the gorgeous and innovative winelands of the Western Cape are included .
We also bring you terrific technical greenhouse articles from our fundi authors like Jerry Austen - and a host of international greenhouse reports . We hope you enjoy exploring the world of greenhouses with us .
Greenhouses can play a role in food security , as is being seen in many urban settings – for example rooftop greenhouses in fascinating urban settings . Experts in the field advocate greenhouse growing in arenas such as hospitals , factories and even petrol stations .
The worrying state of food security in many parts of the world has recently prompted practises such as “ gleaning ” and food waste cuisine to take root .
Editor ’ s message
Great growing in greenhouses
It is consistently worrying that even in South Africa , where 15 million of our fellow South Africans go to bed hungry every night , onethird of all food production is somehow wasted . If we can remedy food wastage and promote technologies such as greenhouses to grow highly nutritious foods in a concentrated fashion in our world , man ( and woman ) kind could enter a purple patch ! It is heartening that the irrigation sector ’ s knowledge is playing a vital role in boosting technologies important to food security such as greenhouses and net houses .
Do yourself a favour and download legendary agricultural engineer Charles Crosby ’ s book – 60 Years , of Agricultural Engineering , if you are keen to learn great things about a distinguished 60 year career in agriculture – both in government and private enterprise , local and international . Charles Crosby has made the book freely available for download : see page 40 . We extend our congratulations on a wonderful book to Charles Crosby .
A SABI team was thrilled to attend the annual SAGIC Convention in Stellenbosch recently , a gathering of green industry professionals - and we are delighted to report on the SALI ( South African Landscape Institute ) Awards of Excellence which were held at the event in this edition . A hearty congratulations to all the winners !
8 years of publishing
Congratulations SABI magazine !
It was eight years ago that SABI magazine was established , initially as an A5 publication – with Lourensford farm in the Western Cape depicted on the cover of the August September 2008 edition .
SABI magazine is published by the non-profit organisation SABI ( South African Irrigation Institute ) to inform , share knowledge and tell the stories of irrigation , water conservation and sustainability in South Africa , covering the agricultural and landscape arenas in South Africa . SABI ’ s mission is to share knowledge on optimum irrigation and water conservation : SABI magazine plays an important role in this endeavour . SABI magazine is also distributed to SABI members , who are professionals in the irrigation , water , agricultural and landscape sectors , and are found in the government , academic and private sectors .
5 000 copies are printed with 35 000 readers of the print and digital editions per issue . SABI magazine is published bi-annually , with six editions annually .
In addition to SABI magazine , SABI Training and the bi-annual SABI National Congress are SABI initiatives which further the mission of SABI to spread knowledge about optimum irrigation , sustainability and water conservation to improve socio-economies and environments
We would like to say a huge thank you to all our contributors , readers , advertisers and SABI members for helping us make SABI magazine the success it is !
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SABI | AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2016