More crop per drop starts with healthier soil, Barrydale farmers told

A spade, not a sensor, was the first tool recommended to farmers at the Barrydale in Bloom Technical Agricultural Day on 6 November at the Karoo Art Hotel in Barrydale, Western Cape. Digging beneath a tree to examine root growth and irrigation depth, three specialists argued, reveals opportunities to save water, sharpen irrigation scheduling and lift production.

Restoration ecologist Shelly Fuller and soil scientists Bennie Diedericks and Dr Pieter Raath took the platform to explain how healthier soils, functioning ecosystems and careful irrigation help farmers get more crop from every drop.

What can farmers do with what's already on-farm?

Fuller's message was blunt: regenerative farming need not be complicated or expensive. Many improvements start with resources already available on the farm.

She urged producers to look beyond individual crops to the landscape that supports them, including life beneath the soil, rivers and mountain catchments. Restoring ecological corridors and clearing invasive alien trees helps those landscapes function better. Managing water-hungry alien vegetation around rivers and in catchment areas improves water availability while cutting the fuel that feeds destructive fires.

On the farm itself, soil protection makes better use of that water. Cover crops and mulch reduce evaporation, help water soak into the ground and moderate temperatures around plants.

Context matters. Fuller explained that practices suited to Stellenbosch might need adapting for the drier Karoo, where competition for moisture demands particular care.

"It's about using what's around you, and what's possible in your context," she said.

She encouraged farmers to experiment and share results. Small, manageable trials, with honest discussion of setbacks and successes, let producers learn from one another before committing to wider changes.

Why does the farm fence matter less than the catchment?

Diedericks framed farming as a system of relationships between ecology, communities and the economy. Farmers who share catchments and river systems also share responsibility for the natural resources their businesses depend on.

His presentation covered four regenerative principles:

• increasing crop diversity;
• maintaining soil cover;
• keeping living roots in the soil;
• integrating animals where appropriate.

Winter cover crops, he noted, produce material that stays on the soil surface through summer, limiting evaporation and aiding infiltration.

He takes a broad view of the animal component, extending it beyond cattle and sheep to chickens and bees. Depending on the species, animals manage vegetation, support pollination and build soil health while generating income from meat, eggs or honey. They can also attract tourists, diversifying farm revenue further. Integration must suit local conditions, with grazing managed to benefit soil and crops.

Planning is essential. Introducing cover crops, particularly where water is limited, may require adjustments to irrigation and other management practices. For Diedericks, the task is identifying how different parts of the farm can support one another, then adapting management to make those relationships work.

How much water does a kilogram of crop actually take?

Raath opened with two questions: how much water is available, and how productively is it being used?

Farmers should know how much water they use to produce a kilogram of crop and how much income that kilogram generates, he said. Tracking those figures reveals room for improvement and guides decisions when supplies tighten.

The system side comes first. Irrigation must be designed for the farm's different soil conditions and crop needs, and maintained to work as intended. Leaking pipelines, blocked drippers and faulty sprinklers leave some trees short of water and others drowning. Extending irrigation run times to compensate for dry patches increases losses elsewhere without fixing the underlying fault.

Scheduling is the second lever. Decisions on when to irrigate and how much to apply should respond to soil moisture, weather and the tree's development stage. A fixed routine misses those shifting needs. Monitoring technology helps, but readings should still be checked against field conditions.

That's where the spade returns. Digging lets farmers examine root distribution and see whether water reaches the active root zone, drains beyond it or leaves deeper layers waterlogged.

When shortages turn severe, Raath advised prioritising blocks. Assess each block's productivity and profitability, then direct the available water where it delivers the greatest return. Within chosen blocks, adjust crop loads and limit excessive leafy growth so water flows to marketable production rather than biomass.

Across all three presentations, the emphasis stayed the same: understand the farm, then respond to what's happening on the ground. Farmers wrestling with the next dry season should start with a dig, a soil moisture check and a hard look at litres per kilogram.