Blue North recently presented at the Carbon Footprint Information Days in collaboration with Grain SA and the Winter Cereal Trust. Two separate day-long workshops were held in the Swartland and Overberg. During these workshops we met with winter grain farmers and stakeholders to share knowledge on carbon emissions and to demonstrate an excel tool developed […]
On Friday 22 November 2019 Blue North Sustainability COO, Eddie Vienings, presented a talk at the SA Berry Producers’ Association’s (SABPA) annual general meeting on sustainability trends in agricultural supply chains. This presentation focused on the development of the sustainability agenda, how this is driven in agricultural supply chains, and how growers can manage these […]
David Farrell was recently asked to speak at the Subtropical Fruit Grower’s Association Marketing Symposium on the implications of the recently implemented Carbon Tax and related matters. In the talk David looked at the history behind the implementation of the tax, different carbon tax pricing scenarios and highlighted the other factors that, with or without […]
You can’t manage what you don’t measure” – Peter Drucker It is a well-known adage in business that “you can’t manage what you don’t measure”. While it would be an oversimplification to assume that a business can be run on visible figures alone, the development of metrics or quantified performance indicators are integral in understanding […]
The past few years have seen a significant shift in the way that governments are responding to the climate crisis. The introduction of carbon pricing mechanisms has seen particular momentum. In essence, carbon pricing works by putting a price on carbon emissions with the aim of bringing down emissions, driving investment into clean technology and fueling low-carbon economic […]
What is conservation agriculture? How is it important for both industry and individual farmers? To answer these questions and better understand the importance of conservation agriculture within the grains industry, we spoke to Dr Hendrik Smith, the Conservation Agriculture Facilitator for Grain SA. What is conservation agriculture in the grains industry and why is it important? […]
For water-scarce countries like South Africa, irrigation is critical, and with the majority of electricity being carbon emission intense, irrigation is an important contributor to a farm’s carbon footprint. Indeed, according to Confronting Climate Change industry benchmark reports, electricity consumption for irrigation is the largest source of farm-level carbon emissions. Therefore, improving water management on farms […]
The Second Draft Carbon Tax Bill (National Treasury, 2017) was published on 15 December 2017 following an extensive consultative process around the First Carbon Tax Bill (National Treasury, 2015). It is expected that the Revised Second Draft Carbon Tax Bill will be tabled in parliament in mid-2018, following the due consultative processes. Whilst the core […]
