Farmer's Inside Track

With hotter, drier conditions threatening crop yields, livestock losses, and tight cash flows, proactive financial management is critical for South African producers. In this Nedbank podcast episode, Kudzayi Mazikana and Daneel Rossouw explain why farmers must adjust management practices and engage early with financiers to safeguard business continuity through climate risks.

Mazikana, head of sustainability, and Rossouw, head of sales for agriculture at Nedbank Business and Commercial Banking, unpack how El Niño risks impact summer rainfall regions like the Free State, North West, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo. They outline key steps to protect production, including adjusting planting dates, conserving soil moisture, securing livestock feed, and managing short-term capital needs.

The experts explore how early financial planning, tailored insurance, and climate-smart practices such as grazing management and water catchment build long-term farm resilience. They also highlight why opening conversations with banks while operations remain financially stable ensures better support and flexible funding options.

With scattered spreadsheets and lost notebook entries cutting into farm margins, using data effectively has become a critical business priority for modern agriculture. Dinah Nel, general manager at Agritistics, says turning everyday farm records into actionable business intelligence does not require expensive software or complex sensors, but rather a clear understanding of how to make existing information work harder.

Nel explains how tracking key metrics like livestock mortality, input costs, and field yields helps producers identify hidden financial leaks and optimise daily operations. She outlines the transition from disconnected records and WhatsApp messages to centralised systems, demonstrating how simple tools like customised Excel sheets or digital dashboards can transform raw numbers into clear visual patterns.

In this episode, she also breaks down practical steps for emerging and commercial farmers to structure their record-keeping without overwhelming daily farm routines.

Water use compliance is essential for farmers looking to operate legally, secure funding and protect South Africa’s scarce water resources. In this episode of Farmer's Inside Track, legal expert Katlego Ngwane, founder and director of Katika Consultancy, unpacks the National Water Act, water use licences, application requirements and the consequences of non-compliance. She also explains why farmers should verify water rights when acquiring land and plan for compliance before seeking agricultural finance.

As crop protection technologies evolve and regulations tighten, relying solely on years of experience is no longer enough to ensure safety on the farm. Speaking on Food For Mzansi’s Farmer’s Inside Track podcast, CropLife South Africa’s stewardship lead, Quade Sing Jam, and strategic partnerships manager, Elriza Theron, highlight why responsible agricultural remedy use must extend across the entire farm life cycle, from storage and application to container disposal.

Jam and Theron unpack common operational gaps, reminding producers that “the label is the law” and that formulation changes mean outdated practices can pose severe health and environmental risks. They explore why personal protective equipment (PPE) is far more than a compliance tick-box exercise, how to prepare for farm emergencies before they occur, and why proper container disposal is critical to protecting crop protection tools from regulatory bans.

In this episode, they also detail CropLife South Africa’s self-paced “Train the Trainer” online course. Designed to equip farm managers and supervisors with the tools to pass vital stewardship knowledge down to their entire team, the course ensures farm operations remain safe, compliant, and sustainable for the future.

A successful harvest depends on far more than end-of-season bulk; it begins with establishing a strong agronomic foundation long before shoots break through the soil surface. Nico Barnard, agronomist for Pannar Seed, highlights how producers can maximise crop performance and value by focusing on foundational seed selection, soil preparation, and early-stage management.

Barnard breaks down the critical role seed germination plays in establishing uniform plant stands and driving final yield potential. He outlines the core management practices needed to protect young crops, optimise nutrient uptake, and build strong root systems from day one.

In this episode, he also examines the practical decisions farmers must make before planting. He provides guidance on managing early-season growing conditions, selecting cultivars suited to specific regional climates, and applying sound agronomic principles to build stronger crop resilience and ensure long-term farm productivity.

In this episode of Farmer's Inside Track, winemaker Mahalia Kotjane, founder of Three Quarters Wines, shares her journey from a curious Grade 9 learner to building her own boutique wine brand in Stellenbosch. She discusses the importance of vineyard management, sustainable practices and quality winemaking, as well as how industry experience, strong relationships and market access have helped grow her business. Mahalia also reflects on balancing production with sales and cash flow, and offers practical advice to aspiring winemakers on investing in their skills, building networks and making use of industry support programmes.

In this podcast episode, Nedbank’s head of agriculture client value propositions, Cobus de Bruyn, redefines what true agricultural transformation looks like in South Africa. Moving beyond simple land-ownership metrics, De Bruyn explains why long-term success hinges on transforming small-scale growers into productive, profitable, and bankable commercial farming enterprises.

He shares critical insights into the real-world barriers facing commercial expansion – from secure land tenure and water infrastructure to market access. De Bruyn makes a compelling case for rethinking industry terminology like “emerging farmer” and highlights how commercial banks, if integrated into government blended finance schemes, can bridge vital funding gaps.

Discover how cross-sector collaboration delivers on-the-ground results through mentorship, structured shareholding, and technical support.

Access to finance can help agricultural SMMEs grow, but understanding credit and preparing a strong funding application are essential for long-term financial sustainability. In this episode of Farmer's Inside Track, Zama Sangweni, agricultural economist at Absa, and Olivia Pratt, executive sales and strategy for SMEs at Nedbank, share practical advice on navigating agricultural finance.

They unpack what lenders look for when assessing funding applications, including cash flow, financial records, credit history, repayment capacity, collateral, governance, risk mitigation and market access. The discussion also explores common application mistakes, warning signs of over-indebtedness and the importance of understanding borrowing costs and repayment terms.

Sangweni and Pratt highlight how farmers, particularly emerging producers, can strengthen their creditworthiness through sound business planning, mentorship, strategic partnerships and diversification, while using credit responsibly.

High-performing livestock operations rely heavily on quality roughage, yet the true energy value of maize silage is often compromised before reaching the feed bunk. Kerry Rowlands, a field agronomist at Pannar Seed, highlights how dairy and beef producers can elevate their feeding programmes by balancing dry matter yields with high starch content rather than focusing solely on bulk volume.

Rowlands explains how grain potential contributes up to 65% of silage energy, emphasising the importance of subsoil fertility, correct planting densities, and proactive foliar disease control to prevent leaf degradation.

In this episode, she breaks down the operational execution required from field to bunker. She provides actionable guidelines on optimal soil planting temperatures, managing seasonal heat and drought stress, and applying tight compaction and sealing techniques to eliminate oxygen and prevent yeast and mould spoilage.

Can simple record-keeping double as your farm’s most powerful profitability tool? In this episode, we sit down with Stefan Corbett, data analytics specialist at Agritistics, to demystify digital agriculture and farm data management. Many producers view digital farming as an intimidating, high-cost hurdle, but Corbett proves that transforming your operation doesn’t require expensive tech or complex platforms.

Learn the crucial difference between raw data and true operational insight, and discover why linked data points across a livestock’s lifetime reveal whether your management decisions are truly paying off. Corbett also breaks down how to avoid the dangerous “garbage in, garbage out” trap through practical standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Whether you run a small-scale farm or a commercial operation, tune in to start turning routine daily records into smarter, more profitable decisions today.