BioPulse The pulse of Biological Agriculture
Issue 4 | December 2013
A Christmas Wish...
We would like to wish all our partners a very Merry Christmas. We look forward to working with you in the year ahead! CELEBRATING 2013
LAW OF THE MINIMUM
FESTIVE SEASON CLOSURE
Andre takes a look back at the year that has
Brendon takes a closer look at V12 Multi
Important notice regarding festive season
past celebrating the successes of 2013.
and V12 Micro and their benefit in protecting
operations.
against yield losses as a result of limiting nutrition. Brought to you by The driving force behind Sustainable Agriculture Tel. 086 104 5261
www.madumbi.co.za
support@madumbi.co.za
Madumbi wishes you a safe and happy festive season... ANDRE FOX Madumbi Sustainable Agriculture CEO andre@madumbi.co.za Madumbi Sustainable Agriculture would like to wish all our customers a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy new year. 2013 marked another busy and exciting year for Madumbi. Just some of the high points included • A growth of 48% in turnover, illustrating the continued success and growth of the biological industry in South Africa. • The registration and launch of our own nutrition range, the V12 products, which have already had a highly successful first season. • Cryptex, one of our flagship products, was approved for use on Table Grapes making it the most comprehensively registered FCM virus product in South Africa. Early season predictions indicate it is going to be another excellent year for this product. • We welcomed a new staff member in Robyn Rowe, refer to the last issue of BioPulse for a full introduction. Robyn who has been with us for 3 month now is settling into the team extremely well. • We celebrated the excellent achievements of our staff members with the introduction of our cycling themed team awards. Sias was the proud recipient of the first yellow jersey for his outstanding commitment to Madumbi. Karen received the King of the Mountains Polka jersey for all hard work behind the scenes. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners for your loyal support over the past year, without you it would not be possible to achieve these great successes. 2014 will bring a new year with new challenges and new opportunities, we look forward to meeting these with you our partners. From all of us at Madumbi, we’ll see you in 2014!
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Andre’s Seasons Greetings
Cryptex The Cutting Edge in Virus technology for the suppression of False Codling Moth on Citrus, Table Grapes, Pomegranates and Sharon Fruit Manufactured by the world leaders in Virus based crop protection products
Brought to you by South Africa’s leading Sustainable Agricultural supply company
The Law of the Minimum, V12 Multi and V12 Micro your ultimate insurance duo. BRENDON NEUMANN Madumbi Sustainable Agriculture Category Manager - BioFertilisers and Plant Vitality brendon@madumbi.co.za The Law of the Minimum states that it is the scarcest resource that most influences plant growth, rather than the total amount of resources or nutrients available. This ‘Law’ is often illustrated by a barrel, like the one pictured below. The illustration shows that the capacity of the barrel is limited by the shortest stave, just like a crops yield potential is limited by the nutrient, or other resource, in shortest supply relative to its need.
Zn Phosphorus Sulphur
B
Potassium
Nitrogen
Calcium Magnesium
Fe Mn
At Madumbi, we recognize 8 key elements (B, Si, Ca, N, Mg, P, C, K) and 4 key drivers (amino acids, vitamins, micronutrients and biostimulants) of plant nutrition. Together these make up the 12 essential components of nutrition which are addressed by the V12 range of products. Any of these 12 components can become a limiting factor in the quest for high yields.
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Law of the Minimum
One of the biggest challenges facing growers is determining what the relevant limiting resources are for a given crop in a given area. Regular soil analysis is a good starting point and can give one a general overview of the nutrient status of the soil. The story told by such analysis is, however, often incomplete: 1. Just because nutrients are present in the soil at the right concentrations does not always mean that they are plant available. Soil pH and other physical characteristics can result in lock-up of nutrients or poor uptake by roots. 2. Root systems can be compromised by the presence of pests and diseases e.g. nematodes and root rot fungi such as Fusarium, thus limiting the ability of the plant to take up nutrients from the soil. 3. Localized variations in soil type etc. can result in major variations in soil nutrient content and availability within a single field. These are just some of the factors that can make it difficult to address the limiting factors in plant nutrition purely through soil applied fertilizers and thus create an opportunity for foliar feeding in combating the effects of the ‘Law of the Minimum’. Regular leaf analysis, in conjunction with soil analysis, can give a more complete picture of what the plant is actually short of. The problem with leaf analysis is that often by the time results have come back from the laboratory, the limiting factor has already been limiting for a few weeks and yield potential has already been compromised. So what are the alternatives? 1. Know your farm – through regular soil and leaf analysis, over time you will get to know what the predominant limiting factors are on your farm. These problems can then be addressed before they occur through a program approach. 2. Apply a broad-spectrum, insurance policy, type product – This is the shotgun approach where one ultimately makes all the staves in the barrel a bit longer just to be sure the barrel can hold more water. Even though there may still be one particular resource that is limiting, it is less limiting than it would have been without the foliar feed, which means that yield potential is raised. V12 Multi and Micro provide the perfect insurance policy duo, providing all 12 essential elements of plant nutrition in optimal formulations – making sure the ‘Law of the Minimum’ does not impact on your crops yields!
V12 Multi
V12 Micro
The Ultimate Insurance Duo! Page 4
The Law of the Minimum
Madumbi Festive Season Operations MEGAN TYLER Madumbi Sustainable Agriculture Marketing Assistant megan@madumbi.co.za The silly season is upon us, before we all rush off to enjoy the time with families and friends please take note of the following important dates. Madumbi Festive Season Closure • Madumbi offices will be closed from 12 noon on Tuesday 24th December through to Friday 27th December. • Robyn will be available in the office to assist you from Monday 30th December Friday 3rd January. • Normal operations will continue from 6th January. Transport and Courier Services Our transport and courier services have notified us of closures and limited operations over the festive season. To avoid any disappointments please ensure your orders are placed no later than 18 December. We advise you to purchase additional stock as we are not able to guarantee timeous delivery during this period. From the admin team, thank you for your support and understanding over this period. We wish you a very merry Christmas and safe travels. We look forward to assisting you again in the new year!
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Festive Season Closures
V
12
The high performance, holistic approach to plant nutrition. • A range of quality nutrition products formulated for growth phase, stress or deficiency management. • Ideal Macro and Micro nutrients provided in a single drum. • Amino Acid chelated for fast and efficient absorption. • Unique blend of biostimulants target and optimise growth.
Achieve sustainable plant health.
Brought to you by
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Your partner in Sustainable Solutions
The Law of the Minimum
The driving force behind Sustainable Agriculture Tel. 086 104 5261 www.madumbi.co.za support@madumbi.co.za
Until next time from the Madumbi team, Happy Farming!