Navigating the minefield of pesticide use in forestry

*Noxolo Ndlovu … her PhD study measures the residue from pesticide applications in forestry on soil, water and sediment. (Photo* *courtesy FSA).*

A ground-breaking study undertaken in the KZN midlands shows that pesticides commonly used in South African plantation forests pose low or minimal risk of impacting negatively on the environment, but there are some red flags worth noting. This is mostly good news for growers who are restricted in terms of the number of pesticides approved for use, and are under increasing pressure from certification bodies, environmentalists and consumers, to minimise usage of chemical pesticides.

The study was undertaken by Nelson Mandela University PhD candidate Noxolo Ndlovu, who is employed as a researcher at NCT Forestry. Noxolo’s presentation was the highlight of the recent webinar hosted by the Timber Industry Pesticide Working Group (TIPWG).

Further good news for foresters is that the research team used the findings to develop a generic decision support tool to guide pesticide use tailored to South African conditions.

The data gleaned from the study is significant as there is a paucity of research on the environmental impacts of pesticide use in forestry in South African conditions.

The study was undertaken over a 26 month period between planting of E. smithii in 2020 and canopy closure in NCT’s Ingwe plantation in the KZN midlands. Ingwe is a fairly typical KZN midlands plantation situated on a steep site with a stream nearby, and therefore represents possibly a worst case scenario in terms of pesticide residue and run-off.

Slash on the site was burnt and previous rotation stumps were killed by chemical application, so there was little material present to absorb the pesticides applied during the study period. These applications included a pre-plant weed, soil-born insect pest management, weed management and foliar insect pest and disease management.

White grubs are beneficial to soil health on the one hand, but they can also damage the root plug of newly planted seedlings and cause plant mortality on the other hand. Chemical pesticides used to control white grubs in soil before planting are under intense scrutiny from certification bodies and environmentalists, and alternative, biological-based management solutions are required.

While the results of the study were encouraging from a forestry perspective, Noxolo was quick to point out that this was a single site, single rotation study and further research is needed to gain a clearer understanding of the impacts of pesticide use in different locations and under different conditions.

Glyphosate, which was used more often and in higher quantities than the other chemical pesticides tested, emerged with the cleanest record and was never detected in any of the soil samples. The concentrations of the other chemicals in the soil declined rapidly through successive sampling with no trace left after the final sampling.

All the pesticides tested showed up in water in a nearby stream after the first rain post application, but the concentrations had decreased significantly at the next sampling.

All of the pesticides tested (except glyphosate) were detected in stream sediment and lasted longer than they did in water, but did decrease over time and were below the detection threshold by the time of the final sampling.

After comparing the pesticide concentrations that they found in the soil, water and sediment at Ingwe against standard lab toxicity studies, the researchers concluded that the toxicity risks posed by the pesticides tested were generally low or moderate, but there were two red flags:-

• Metazachlor posed a ‘high risk’ to drinking water and to aquatic organisms;
• Cypermethrin posed a ‘high risk’ to sediment dwelling organisms.

PESTICIDE	TOXICITY RISK SOIL	TOXICITY RISK WATER	TOXICITY RISK SEDIMENT
Glyphosate	Low	Low	Low
Triclopyr	Low	Low	Unknown
Cypermethrin	Low	-	High
Metazachlor	Low	High	Low
Azoxystrobin	Moderate	Unknown	Unknown

Noxolo concluded by saying that the study is a valuable first step in understanding the impacts of pesticide usage on the environment in SA, and recommended that further research is needed. This should include research into non-chemical methods of pest and disease management in forestry to reduce reliance on pesticides, she suggested..

Integrated Pest Management

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the buzzword that describes the current approach in agriculture and forestry to move away from narrow, traditional pesticide solutions to manage pests in a more economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally safe manner. This approach requires foresters to look at other, safer alternatives to manage pests and diseases - like biological-based solutions.

Addressing issues around IPM, Roger Poole, TIPWG’s agro-chemical liaison guru, said that although conventional chemical pesticide solutions for plant protection currently comprise 95% of the global agriculture market and biological solutions just 5%, the balance is shifting. The biological sector of the plant protection market is doubling every four to five years, growth is accelerating and there is a lot of R & D taking place in this space.

“Biological solutions could provide 50% of crop inputs by 2040,” he said.

*Roger Poole … highlighted the potential for biological based solutions for pest and disease management and promoting soil health in the forestry context.*

He said the TIPWG team is engaging with Andermatt Madumbi, a South African company backed by international expertise that is developing biological solutions to change the future of farming and food.

Driving factors behind this initiative are:-

• The ban on schedule 1A and 1B chemical pesticides, which for example affects the treatment of wattle rust in SA;
• There is a definite decline in soil health;
• Over-extensive farming practices – we are pushing the boundaries;
• Growing consumer concern for residue levels in food;
• Global pressure to improve sustainability;
• Growers seeking improved return on investment.

*Wattle rust … foresters are currently heavily reliant on chemical pesticides to manage this destructive pathogen.*

Biological products already being used include biofertilizers, biogrowth stimulants and biological pest control products. They are less toxic, effective and leave no residues behind.

Roger said that trials using biological products in commercial forestry in the Dumbe area have shown encouraging early growth results.

“It’s a new technology and confidence is building. However there are no silver bullets, it’s a long term thing,” concluded Roger.

Above and Below: Exceptional growth shown by wattle and grandis seedlings, both planted in November 2023 as part of the Dumbe trial. These photos were taken on 18 January this year. The trees were planted in either water or gel, mixed in with the biological products: 0,1g Eco-T ; 0,1g MycoUp Activ ; 2g V12 Initiate.

TIPWG co-ordinator Jacqui Meyer reported that her team would be evaluating all the products listed on the Approved Pesticides List to eliminate those that are no longer being used in forestry or are no longer available. This process would include a survey that will be circulated among all FSA members, and will result in a streamlined, up-to-date APL at the end of the day

FSC updating national standards

Richard Fergusson, co-ordinator for FSC Southern Africa, provided info on FSC’s National Forest Stewardship Standard for South Africa, which is currently in the process of being updated and revised. He said that the national standard was first implemented in 2017, and it’s time for an update to ensure it remains abreast of current conditions prevailing in the industry.

The national standard includes the FSC principles and criteria and the international generic indicators adapted to the national context to reflect the legal, social
and geographic conditions of forests.

The current standard has been extended until the revised standard is approved, which is expected to happen in early 2026. The process includes extensive stakeholder consultation and field testing.

He said that the revised standard would be slightly simpler than version one, and would include natural forests and non-timber forest products in its scope.

*Jacqui Meyer … the TIPWG team is busy updating and streamlining the Approved Pesticides List for forestry in South Africa.*

The Great Woodchip Fire of 2023 … what now?

*2nd October … smoke plume visible for miles around.*

It has been dubbed ‘the Great Woodchip Fire of 2023’. It destroyed 200 000 tons of woodchips at NCT’s Richards Bay facility, severely damaged infrastructure and will leave a big hole in the forestry and wood processing value chains. But South Africans are a tenacious bunch, and as soon as the smoke had cleared the hard work of mopping up, assessing the damage and planning the repair and rebuild began. The optimistic expectation is that the timber at the NCT facility will be flowing on one chipping line within eight months, and business will be back to normal production within a year to 14 months.

Chip pile fires are notorious for their ferocity – especially when fanned by hot, gale-force winds – and they are always very hard to extinguish. And so it turned out at NCT’s chipping and export facility in Richards Bay when a fire broke out on a chip pile on the last day of September, and raged for 10 days straight, consuming two massive chip piles and threatening to spread to neighbouring businesses and suburbs. Fire fighters from far and wide, local businesses and the people of Richards Bay rallied around and finally extinguished the blaze on October 12.

NCT general manager Danny Knoesen and his team have spent the past few weeks tirelessly shuttling between the fire ground zero, the post-fire mop-up and rebuild war room, member tree farmers and NCT customers on the other side of the world to keep everyone informed, on board and to come up with alternative arrangements to mitigate the disruption to business that the fire has wrought.

*2nd October … burning through the night.*

According to current estimates it will take around eight months to get one chipping line going, while the team is considering the possibility of getting temporary chipping capacity in place even sooner. Current estimate is that the facility could get back to normal production levels in a year to 14 months. NCT’s plan pre-fire was to build a third chipping line by 2025, and this is still on the cards.

Good news

The good news is that the fire has been completely extinguished, and nobody lost their lives or their homes despite the highly dangerous conditions faced by NCT staff, firefighters, neighbouring businesses and local inhabitants.

The not-such-good news is that 200 000 tons of woodchips and round logs – i.e. all of the stock that was in the NCT yard at the time of the fire – has been destroyed or so badly damaged as to be worthless. There is also extensive damage to infrastructure including conveyers and gantries on both the wattle and Eucalyptus chip lines. It is nothing short of a multi-billion rand catastrophe.

*4th October … fire still going strong.*

NCT has declared ‘force majeure’ with three large export customers in China and Japan, and has already met with them to explain the circumstances and try find a way to mitigate the disruption to their businesses until NCT can get back to the business of supplying them with chips. Force majeure is a clause that is included in contracts to remove liability for unforeseen and unavoidable catastrophes that interrupt the expected course of events and prevent participants from fulfilling their obligations in terms of the contract.

Impact on NCT member tree farmers

Then there is the inevitable slow down in timber flowing from NCT’s 2 000 member tree farmers who supply the co-op with their raw material, whose cashflow will be severely dented as a result of the fire. This will have a ripple effect, impacting on contractors and other suppliers who feed goods and services into this forestry value chain.

Danny admitted that the tree farmers are in a difficult situation as a result of the loss of stock and damage to the export facility, but the NCT team is hard at work to find ways to mitigate the impacts on them.

*4th October … both chip piles burning.*

“The wattle growers need to be able to harvest so the bark can be stripped and passed on to the bark factories at UCL and NTE, so we are by and large encouraging wattle members to continue to harvest, and to hold their timber stock in depot. We will add a few more ships to our Durban operation to try to mitigate the lack of wattle business for the upcoming season, and we think that TWK will do the same. So we could try and capture about 90% of the wattle season.

“On the euc side we will chase domestic markets to see what we can do to try and improve the euc offtake from our members – but that is going to be a challenge, especially for our smaller growers. We are looking at ways to mitigate that, but we don’t have all the answers yet,” said Danny.

As to the longer term impacts on the business, Danny believes they will not lose any of their regular customers as the demand for NCT’s woodchips will continue to be strong.

“We know our export customers will wait for us. We are an important cog in their wheel and NCT is a vital supplier to the pulp and paper sector in Asia, and once our facility is up and running we hope to get back to business as normal,” he said.

A commitment has been made by NCT to retain all their staff, who will be re-focused on recovery and rebuilding efforts. NCT employs 700 people.

*7th October … excavators spreading and cooling the chip pile. Conveyor system damage visible.*

Containing the fire

Another piece of good news: the fire didn’t spread to the chip pile at the TWK woodchip export facility situated right next door to NCT despite numerous incidents of spotting which were quickly extinguished. Nor did it spread to Foskor, a major manufacturer of fertilizers, located behind TWK. Foskor has stockpiles of sulphur and ammonia housed in their yard that are used in their manufacturing process, which could have caused extensive damage had they caught fire. Sulphur is highly toxic, and ammonia is like gunpowder.

More good news: despite the fact that at the height of the inferno burning debris was being blown by gale-force winds across the John Ross highway and igniting the brush and threatening nearby houses, these flare-ups were contained by firefighters from the municipality and local businesses as well as local residents armed with buckets of water and makeshift fire beaters.

Fish kill

Not-such-good-news: fish were reported to have washed up dead in a canal close to the NCT yard that is connected to the sea, possibly as a result of the water used in the firefighting activities that entered the storm water system which discharged into the canal. NCT has been issued with an environmental directive by the environmental authorities and they are responding to that directive. In the meanwhile NCT has called in Ground Truth, a multi-disciplinary consulting company with a specialist focus on issues surrounding water resources, biodiversity and environmental engineering, to help evaluate the causes of the fish die-off and limit the damage.

“We suspect at this stage that it was dissolved oxygen deficiency in the water, but we will wait for the results of the tests,” said Danny.

So what caused the fire in the first place?

Progress of the fire

Apparently it started under a conveyer system on the side of a chip pile that was not running at the time and had not been in production for 10 days prior to the start of the fire. The NCT team believe that it was not caused by equipment or the conveyor, it was not an accident and it was not arson and it was not caused by human intervention, and it was not internal combustion as it started on the outside of the chip pile. So at this stage it is a bit of a mystery.

In the meanwhile a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire is on-going, and hopefully it will come up with answers.

But what we do know is that a small wisp of smoke at the chip pile was first detected at 12.44 pm on Saturday 30 September. Within 10 minutes the NCT fire crew was on the scene under the command of NCT Operations Manager Ryno Martin.

Weather conditions at the time were hot, dry and windy. Despite the fact that the chips have a 30% moisture content, the fire, which started quite small, spread rapidly.

A second proto team arrived soon after with extra equipment. According to reports it looked like the firefighters may be able to contain the blaze, but at 4.45 pm the wind suddenly switched around from north east to south west, blowing at around 50 km/hour. This overpowered the good work that had been done and the fire got away.

Aerial water bombers despatched by the Zululand FPA were unable to attack the fire due to the dangerous conditions.

By 11 pm that night the second NCT chip pile was ablaze, and by Sunday morning the scene was like ‘hell on earth’ with the smoke plume visible for miles.

Additional fire fighting resources from all over started arriving during the day including from uMhlathuze Municipality, Transnet, Mondi, South32 and Sappi to assist the now exhausted NCT fire fighters. Fixed wing fire fighting aircraft from the Zululand FPA and the KZN FPA based in Howick as well as helicopters from Working on Fire and specialised units from ADT joined the fray.

Due to the heat of the fire and the weather conditions they were unable to contain the main blaze, and the focus shifted to preventing the nearby TWK chip pile from catching fire and setting off another chain of destructive fire events.

Under control

By 9th October the fire was under control and excavators were deployed to spread out the chip piles, further cooling the blaze. By the morning of the 10th October, the fire was finally extinguished.

The manner in which local people and businesses and authorities all came together during the crisis to assist and support the fire fighting effort was quite remarkable, and has not gone unnoticed. NCT sponsored an entire supplement in the local newspaper to thank everybody for their good will and their support during the fire.

Now it’s all hands on deck to get back to business, and to rebuild the facility - with enhanced fire fighting capacity. Many hard lessons have been learned from the Great Woodchip Fire of 2023, and hopefully these will prevent future fire catastrophes.

*NCT General Manager Danny Knoesen (pictured) and his staff have got a big job on their hands to get NCT back to business as usual.*

*All fire photos by Neels Reyneke

NCT’s Top Tree Farmers of the Year

NCT’s Top Tree Farmers for 2022: Zodwa Bhengu (left) in the Small-Scale Grower category, and Gudrun and Rudolf Johannes in the Commercial Grower category.

NCT Forestry’s Tree Farmers of the Year for 2022 are Gudrun and Rudolf Johannes of Vryheid (Commercial Grower category), and Zodwa Bhengu of Matimatolo (Small-Scale Grower category).

The candidates for these prestigious awards are nominated by NCT staff, and are assessed against sustainable plantation management principles. This year’s winners were announced at the NCT AGM in July, and received brand new chainsaws sponsored by STIHL and PMB Power Products as rewards for their forestry excellence.

Zodwa Bhengu grows a small block of wattle close to her homestead in the Matimatolo tribal area near Greytown in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands. She has been associated with NCT for over 20 years since she and her late husband Isaac started a forestry contracting business transporting timber and bark for other small-scale growers like themselves.

Wattle has proved to be an ideal crop for people living around Matimatolo, including the Bhengus, as growing conditions are good and the markets for both timber and fresh bark are located close by. Timber is marketed through NCT while the wattle bark is sold to NTE which operates a bark factory at Hermannsburg.

Proud wattle grower Zodwa Bhengu (centre) in front of her woodlot in Matimatolo, with Cliff Walton of NCT (left) and Eza Mapipa of NTE, during a Project Wattle Regen field day.

In 2018 NCT and NTE joined forces to launch Project Wattle Regen, a joint venture initiative focused on the growing of wattle which is a popular tree crop in the Greytown/KransKop area. The primary aim of the initiative is to promote sustainable forestry in co-operation with small-scale wattle growers, to increase managed hectares of wattle plantations and thereby facilitate the development of the small growers to optimize their business potential and management.

Zodwa Bhengu was one of the first local growers to join Project Wattle Regen, and she has taken full advantage of the opportunities to improve and grow her timber related businesses. She has also played an active role in sharing ideas and expertise with other programme participants at workshops and field days.

Zodwa’s 0.6 ha wattle block has been fully fenced to keep out browsing animals, and she has diverted surface run-off water into her block to improve soil moisture. Currently four years old, her plantation is immaculately maintained with no competing weeds in sight. It is kept clean both inside the compartment and around the perimeter to reduce the fire risks.

A concrete block making operation at her homestead and a taxi business is further proof of Zodwa’s never-say-die entrepreneurial spirit.

Zodwa Bhengu has dug channels to divert surface runoff water into her wattle compartment to promote tree growth.

Concrete block operation at Mrs Bhengu’s homestead in Matimatolo attests to her entrepreneurial spirit. Her well maintained wattle woodlot can be seen in the background.

Commercial forestry operation
Gudrun and Rudolf Johannes’ agriculture and forestry business started in 1993, managing a family-owned 750ha smallholding in the Dumbe area of KwaZulu-Natal. Soon thereafter they started their own harvesting contracting business, and a few years later acquired their own 630ha farm, also in the Dumbe district.

Today they manage over 2 000ha of farming land, almost half of which is used for forestry, including gum, wattle and pine.

All forestry operations are performed by their own staff except for the harvesting business which was handed over to a long serving employee.

The farms employ a total of 70 local people, with 30 permanently employed for own operations and 40 allocated to outsourced operations.

The harvested timber is marketed through NCT and Paulpietersburg Timbers. Wattle bark is sold to NTE which has a bark factory close by.

Silviculture on the farms is of a high standard with careful attention to matching the right species to the site and the market requirements.

Harvesting operations are manual, using labour to fell, de-bark and cross-cut the timber.

Gum harvesting on the Johannes’ timber farm.

The Johannes’ utilise everything including the plantation residue and even the tree stumps to manufacture charcoal in their own kilns, which is marketed through Ignite charcoal. The stumps are harvested by a contractor who uses a locally manufactured stump clipper which cuts off the stumps cleanly at ground level.

Only minimal harvesting residue is left behind in brushlines after all the usable material has been collected. These brushlines are reduced further using cool burns after rainfall events, leaving a light residue layer behind to protect the soil.

The open areas on the farms are all under maintenance phase, wetland and riparian areas have been delineated, wattle jungle and weed patches have been cleaned and rehabilitated and natural corridors between open areas have been established to promote and support biodiversity.

A healthy open corridor on the Johannes’ timber estate promotes biodiversity.

The Johannes’ contribute to local communities and have created temporary employment for local people to maintain municipal district roads and rail servitudes.

According to the NCT team that adjudicates the Top Tree Farmer awards: ‘Rudolf and Gudrun Johannes have built up a successful forestry business through hard work and an acumen for identifying opportunities. Diversification has been an important strategy in achieving this success. They have done this with a commendable social and environmental conscience.’

NCT field day provides foresters with valuable insights

The Ibhanoyi Aerial Services team demonstrates the effective use of drones in spraying operations.

NCT Forestry held a highly successful field day at their Enon forestry farm near Richmond in the KZN midlands recently. Foresters and tree farmers came from far and wide to attend the field day and pick up a few useful tips from the experienced NCT team, happy to blow away the cobwebs and engage with colleagues in the real world after months of COVID lockdown.

There were a number of interesting indoor presentations, field stops and equipment demonstrations, finishing off with a delicious braai around the Enon dam.

Prof Keith Little of Nelson Mandela University provided info on the trials he has been conducting in an effort to find a suitable replacement for Paraquat which has been used by foresters for decades to prepare tracer belts to facilitate the safer burning of fire breaks. Paraquat worked brilliantly but has been outlawed by FSC due to the risks associated with handling the chemical. The key thing that made Paraquat so effective was that it rapidly dessicates and kills the above ground vegetation, making it easier and safer to proceed with burning the firebreak in between the tracer belts – but it does not harm the below ground roots. Thus the grass on the tracer belts grows back readily in spring and protects the soil from subsequent erosion and invasion by weeds.

Keith presented some encouraging results that he has had in trials using pelargonic acid (PA) in varying conditions and sites. It seems that it is a good substitute for Paraquat but it is a bit more costly and must be applied at the correct rate and solution to be effective. In other words it is not as ‘bullet-proof’ as Paraquat.

Roger Poole of the Timber Industry Pesticide Working Group says the industry has applied for registration of pelargonic acid for use in South Africa, and hopefully it will be registered in time for the 2023 fire season. In the meantime many foresters are using brush cutters very effectively to prepare tracer belts.

Friedel Eggers of NTE explains the benefits of planting rust resistant wattle clones to foresters at a field stop on NCT’s Enon tree farm, KZN midlands.

Jacob Kotze of NCT Tree Farming provided info on the best performing tree species in terms of their return and impact on the bottom line. Salient points from his presentation were as follows:-

• Wattle gives the best net profit return on all NCT farms.
• The cost of wattle rust resistant clones is worth the investment due to reduced silvicultural costs and improved MAI.
• Green wattle (Acacia decurrens) is a viable alternative to E. dunnii on certain sites.
• E. grandis clones give a good net profit on good sites if a pole market is an option.
• E. smithii remains a good option on the right sites.
• Plantation insurance costs are considerably less for acacia species vs eucalypts.
• TU period is generally shorter for eucalypts than it is for wattle.

The team from Andermatt Madumbi then delivered their presentation on the importance of looking after soil health for good, sustainable yields. They have developed various biological-based products to improve soil and root health which inevitably results in improved vigour and growth of the plants – whether they be trees or agricultural crops. They have had a lot of success with improving crop yields after their soil treatments, and have recently been doing trials in tree nurseries with their root health programme. According to Andrew Keller the programme resulted in improved root health and growth of the cuttings. He said this would lead to improved survival, better pest and disease tolerance and the trees would be quicker to canopy.

Andrew said that there is increasing pressure on farmers all over the world to reduce chemical use in their fields due to declining soil health and productivity over successive rotations, hence the value of using quality biologicals to boost soil health.

He said that tree farmers need more fungi and less bacteria in the soil which will build up the carbon content and lead to healthier crops. At just 3% organic matter in the soil you get “massive growth improvement”, he said. As the fungi to bacteria ratio increases, so too the growth of the plant accelerates.

A walk through NCT’s hybrid trials at Enon provided foresters with a better understanding of the work that is going on to come up with trees that are best suited to different sites while providing good growth, stem form and wood quality as well as pest and disease tolerance.

Tree improvement programme

After the indoor presentations we took a drive around Enon to view some of NCT’s tree improvement trials, from rust-tolerant wattle trees, black and green wattle hybrids and a raft of Eucalyptus hybrids that are producing ever improving results with better growth, improved pest and disease tolerance, wood quality and stem form.

For over 20 years a hybrid breeding consortium has been funding research and testing clones for independent timber growers in the forestry industry. Recently, NCT together with TWK and affiliated clonal nurseries - CPS Seedlings, Ezigro Seedlings, Sunshine Seedlings, Sutherland Seedlings and Top Crop - have formed a non-profit company known as the Hybrid Clone Consortium (HCC) to continue managing this programme.

Highlights of the programme include the development of GN 2107, one of the most widely and successfully grown GxN clones in the industry today; the development of GU 400 and 412 at the height of the L. invasa infestations to help growers combat this pest; and the release of the first South African black wattle clones to the market.

SP 644 is the first commercial rust wattle clone to be released into the South African forestry industry. It has been fast tracked to combat the impact of wattle rust and is readily available at affiliated nurseries. It shows increased rust tolerance when compared to current commercial seedlings as well as increased growth rates and better uniformity.

There are now well over 100 hybrid trials planted across a wide range of South African forestry sites which are contributing crucial info that is steadily building an understanding of which clones to plant on which sites for desired results.

At the same time nursery practises have evolved and clones are now produced through mini-cuttings, which form a tap-root like root system which more closely resembles the root architecture of a seedling. The introduction of paper pots over the past few years has also improved the quality of the root plug and ease of handling of clonal cuttings which are the future of forestry.

We were then treated to a demo of the use of drones to spray the tree canopy from above, the use of a highly effective blower to manage and extinguish a fire by the STIHL team; and various spray and planting rigs from Midlands Spraychem.

Thanks to the NCT team for organising a highly informative field day.

NCT’s Forestry Technology Manager Craig Norris provided info on the hybrid tree improvement programme that NCT, TWK and affiliated tree nurseries are managing. The selected hybrids are extensively trialled and the most successful ones are made available to independent tree farmers through affiliated nurseries.

Alasdair and Callum MacKenzie of Midlands Spraychem demonstrate the use of various spray and planting equipment that they supply and support.

Demonstrating the use of STIHL blowers to manage a grass fire.

The NCT team uses different post harvest slash management systems on their farms depending on site and environment conditions … this photo shows chipping (foreground) and broadcasting the slash (background). The chip piles would be scattered across the site to speed up the breakdown of material, protect the soil and reduce the fire risk.

A stand of fast growing hybrid clones on Enon showing excellent stem form and uniformity.

Conservation and forestry

The NCT Tree Farmer of the Year is awarded annually to tree farming operations that display excellence in sustainable plantation management. Candidates for the award are assessed against broad sustainability principles.

The 2021 winners in the Commercial Tree Farmer category are Brendon Raw and his wife Ninette, who manage their forestry business from a smallholding in the Karkloof in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands. They have built up an integrated timber business including 1 000 ha of plantations and a sawmill.

Brendon and Ninette are also enthusiastic conservationists, and have taken on the role of protecting highly sensitive grasslands and wetlands at the headwaters of a major catchment that feeds into the Umgeni River which serves agriculture, industry and rural and urban settlements all the way from the Karkloof to the coast. These grasslands and wetlands are teeming with wildlife, including threatened and endangered species. The conservation areas have been successfully integrated into their highly productive plantation operation which produces sawlogs for their own sawmill and other markets.

NCT Forestry is a leading marketing co-operative catering for the needs of independent timber growers in South Africa. It has 1 800 shareholders/members who collectively own 300 000 ha of timber, which constitutes 21% of afforested land in SA.

See the video here...