By Bongani Siziba
It’s winter in South Africa and Danie Bester’s fields are being harvested. But fresh crops are already growing and stretching miles in the same fields. While some of his neighbours will be busy tilling their fields in the spring, South African farmer Bester says he will be out playing golf.
Danie Bester had been farming in Mpumalanga his whole adult life. He inherited the farm from his father and had been running it for years now. But as the years went by, he noticed that his land was becoming less productive, and the quality of his crops was decreasing.
With the increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions, he knew he needed to make a change. That change would ultimately lead him to adopt a new farming approach.
He then adopted no-till, a practice of farming that is being adopted by many farmers to reduce carbon emissions on his 2,700-acre farm in Balfour, about 55 miles southeast of Johannesburg. His farming style has a fancy name, “regenerative agriculture”
“My seed beds are already growing, and my weed control is already going. “I don’t have to do that big amount of preparation like the other guys are doing,” Bester said.
Over the years one of the most significant challenges Bester faced was the carbon emissions caused by his farming practices. Like any other farmer, he used machinery to till his fields, fertilize his crops, and harvest his yields. But he quickly realized that conventional farming methods were contributing to the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change. He then made a radical decision to overhaul the way he farms and use techniques that are both better for his soils and adapt to climate change.
The first step in his transition was to stop using chemicals such as herbicides and pesticides. Instead, he began using natural methods to manage pest and weed populations. He also stopped tilling his land, which helped to preserve the soil structure and increase organic matter content. This was a significant shift from traditional farming methods, and for Bester, it required a significant amount of learning and adaptation.
“What I learnt studying agriculture, and from farmers in the US, is that our entire approach to fertilisation is wrong. I’ve seen first-hand that South Africa is years behind.”
“Our fertilizer needs a makeover because the levels of elements, especially potassium, aren’t where they need to be. We’ve advanced when it comes to the seed genetics we use, but somehow the prescribed fertiliser norms have stayed the same down the years,” he added.
Bester now grows cover crops in the off-season to replace pesticides, irrigation and heavy tillage. Cattle graze in the cover-cropped fields, adding manure as fertiliser, while worms and microbes are hard at work in the undisturbed soil, improving its health ahead of the next planting season. He’s spent years testing his soil quality and manages his fields in blocks of about 54 square feet.
He began to explore alternative crops that were better suited to his regenerative approach, such as legumes that could fix nitrogen in his soil and help it to rebuild. He also started selling his produce at local markets, where he found that consumers were willing to pay a premium for products that were grown sustainably.
As he began to implement these changes, he noticed that his farm was slowly starting to become more biodiversity. He observed an increase in wildlife such as birds and insects that were returning to his land. Bester also decided to incorporate renewable energy into his farming practices. He installed solar panels on his farm to provide electricity for other farm operations. This helps to reduce his energy bills and lower his carbon footprint.
It’s taken a lot of trial and error, but his dedication is paying off. His yields are among the highest in South Africa, earning him several national awards. No-till is also a sustainable solution for a country faced with a climate crisis, as experts say South Africa’s climate is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world.
According to the Regenerative Agriculture Association of South Africa, one of the major culprits regarding biodiversity loss is the agricultural industry. The production of food erodes soil, damages the natural environment and is responsible for 24% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Globally, more than a quarter of the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change come from growing and processing food. Considering that the United Nations predicts the population to increase to 9.7-billion in 2050 from 7.9-billion currently, it is vital that farming practices change, otherwise feeding the world in 30 years will require an 87% increase in carbon emissions.
Bester’s commitment to regeneration was not only driven by a desire to improve his farm’s sustainability, but also by a need to adapt to a changing climate. As South Africa faces increasing frequency and intensity of droughts, he knew that he needed farming practices that could better protect his farm from these events.
Moreover, balancing the role of the agriculture sector while meeting the need for increased climate action is a challenging task. Agriculture is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is also an essential sector for South Africa’s economy. To bridge this gap, Bester knew that he had to find ways of making his farm more sustainable while also remaining profitable.
According to Bennie Van Zyl, the CEO of TLU SA Farmers, regenerative farming has many benefits besides reducing carbon emissions. He states that “regenerative agriculture protects soil health, improves water retention, and enhances biodiversity while producing high-quality food.”
TLU SA Farmers also advocates for policies that support sustainable and environmentally-friendly farming practices. According to Van Zyl, regenerative farming is critical to meeting the world’s climate goals and stopping the severe effects of climate change.
Agriculture plays a vital role in reducing carbon emissions and moving towards a net-zero world. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that agriculture accounts for 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
5 June,World Environment Day, encourages businesses to develop greener models, farmers and manufacturers need to produce more sustainably and governments and businesses to invest in repairing the natural environment. It is also important for people to consider how they consume. This means that business owners in the food manufacturing industry need to consider how they farm so that they retain consumer buy in.
Subsequently, it is crucial to look long-term and build a system that will help ensure the longevity and the profitability of farmers.
Still, with the adoption of regenerative farming practices, agriculture can go from a source of greenhouse gas emissions to a carbon sink – sequestering carbon and mitigating the effects of climate change.
According to Frontiers Review of Scholars and practitioners of regenerative agriculture has been proposed as an alternative means of producing food that may have lower or even net positive environmental and social impacts
However, no-till is rare in South Africa, which has the most industrialized farms on the continent. Most operations are large-scale and monoculture, and rely heavily on pesticides and fertilisers. Bester hopes other farmers will see his success and give no-till a try. It seems to be working, as several of his neighbors have already switched to no-till.
“We’ve got to get the soils back to what they were a hundred years ago. The longer the soil will be healthy, the longer we will be able to produce food,” Bester says.
The shift towards sustainable farming practices is not without its challenges, but farmers like Bester have shown that there is a way forward that benefits both the environment and farming communities.
It’s important to think far into the future when making decisions about farming methods, Bester says. His goal is to use practices that will ensure the land is fertile when his two young children take over the farm from him one day.
One Earth, a global non-profit working in the agricultural sector, notes that since the large scale industrial farming, approximately 133 gig tons of carbon have been lost from soils globally, the equivalent of 480 GtCO2 emissions.
Bester’s regenerative agriculture if adopted by many farmers has the potential to act as a solution to the challenges faced by the agriculture sector, in South Africa and beyond, this is by embracing natural farming techniques and renewable energy sources, it restores the health of his soil while also improving the resilience of his farm to climate change.
If more farmers like Bester make the shift to regenerative agriculture, the agriculture sector can contribute to a more sustainable and resilient future for us all. Although the transition will take a number of years, these are the critical years to make progress that protects the resilience of farms.
THIS STORY WAS PRODUCED WITH SUPPORT FROM INTERNEWS EARTH JOURNALISM NETWORK