SU AGRONOMISTS AND CO-WORKERS SCOOP 10 AWARDS

The calibre of Stellenbosch University students and staff and the work that they do towards solving pressing agronomical issues in the South African agricultural sector was recognised by the South African Society of Crop Production (SASCP) for contributions at the Combined Congress. Ten of the twelve SASCP prizes presented after the online Combined Conference in January of SASCP, the Soil Science Society of South Africa (SSSSA) and the Southern African Society for Horticultural Sciences (SASHS) went to SU-associated students, lecturers and extraordinary appointees.

 

“The awards exemplify the hard work that our students and staff commit to, and the innovation, timeous nature and application of the research being conducted to help solve pressing agricultural issues,” says Dr Pieter Swanepoel, chair of the SU Department of Agronomy. “We trust that the information gathered through the course of these studies will go a long way in helping to make agricultural practices even more effective.”

 

Two students, Lisa Matthews and Anell Lötter, received a SASCP Gold Merit Award for passing their undergraduate studies with distinction (with an average of 75% or higher). Matthews is currently pursuing MSc studies in Agronomy at SU, while Lotter is working on a wine farm between Worcester and Villiersdorp. She is putting her studies into practice by integrating diverse crops into the current operation to also include livestock and grazing options.

 

Amandrie Louw presented the best student paper at the Combined Conference with a talk on the dynamics of diversification through crop rotations. Amandrie is from the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology and the paper was presented in conjunction with Dr Pieter Swanepoel of the SU Department of Agronomy, Dr Johann Strauss of the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and Dr Stephan van der Westhuizen from SU Department of Genetics.

 

The Board Floating Trophy for the best paper presented at the Combined Conference overall went to Dr Izané Crous, who in December 2021 received her PhD in Agronomy. She discussed nitrogen source effects on canola (Brassica napus) grown under conservation agriculture in the Western Cape.

 

A lecturer in die Department of Agronomy, Ms Charné Viljoen, was presented with the Daan F. Retief Floating Trophy for Best Paper for researchers younger than 40 years old. Her topic was wheat production following weed management by cover crops.

 

The Rovic-Leers Prize for the best poster presentation in the field of conservation agriculture went to a MSc student in Agronomy, Hanneke Augustyn, after presenting on the quantity of nitrogen available in soil following legume crops.

 

Three prizes went to Dr Johann Strauss, a senior scientist in sustainable cropping systems research at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, and an extraordinary lecturer in the SU Department of Agronomy. He received the award for the best paper in the South African Journal of Plant and Soil in 2020. He co-authored the paper entitled “Effects of long-term grazed crop and pasture systems under no-till on organic matter fractions and selected quality parameters of soil in the Overberg, South Africa” with Jacques Smit of Yara and Dr Ailsa Hardie of the SU Department of Soil Science.

 

He also received the President’s Award for the best poster presented. His topic was: “The influence of preceding crops on the production of wheat, barley and canola.” To top it all, Dr Strauss was also honoured with the Rovic-Leers Prize for the best presentation in the field of conservation agriculture, with a discussion on the effect of crop sequence on selected soil, yield and economic parameters.

 

During the online award ceremony, prizes were also awarded in retrospect, as the 2021 Combined Conference did not take place. The prize for the best paper published in 2019 in the South African Journal of Crop Production by a SASCP member went to Dr PJ Pieterse, for a paper he co-authored on the effects of short-term maize-cover crop rotations on weed emergence, biomass and species competition under conservation agriculture along with two academics from the University of Zimbabwe, Ms Joyful Rugare (and Dr Stanford Mabasa. Dr Pieterse retired last year after 30 years of highly valued service to the Department of Agronomy, and has since been appointed as an extraordinary lecturer.

 

Dr Swanepoel says that research being conducted by SU staff and students is often done in cooperation with collaborators in many fields. He thanked all collaborators for their support, and in particular staff associated with the Western Cape Department of Agriculture.

 

“Teamwork leads to a much a higher calibre of research,” he believes.