Welcome to the May edition of the Magnus Kahl Seeds newsletter.
In these challenging times where many lives have been lost globally and our day to day routine has been altered significantly, we wish you all the best and hope that you are safe and well.
In the last few months the whole team has been working hard to ensure all of our customers in various markets have been able to receive their seed in time for planting. In challenging conditions we were able to deliver all seed that was ordered. A special thank you to our EU General Manager, Geo Verstichel, who was able to get seed delivered to clients even during the lock down period in Belgium.
In other news, during these last few months we have been selecting our commercial seed bulbs and planting seed crops in a range of production zones. We have also been working through the selection of long day bulbs that were harvested in March. Between the short, intermediate and long day genetics that we have, we individually select several hundred different onion types in order to select the best genetics to create our hybrid and open pollinated onion varieties.
In the coming months we will be communicating via phone and email whilst there are travel restrictions in place. As soon as these limitations are lifted, we will be visiting you to see how our products are performing in the field.
Australian Korkom Tour
Earlier this year, we welcomed the arrival of a group of our South African customers to Australia. Nine onion growers from South Africa’s Korkom group in the Koue Bokkeveld, along with two of our staff, spent the week with local growers and packers in Tasmania and South Australia.
The Korkom organisation was first established in 1981 with the sole purpose of gathering information with regards to potatoes, however by 1986, Ceres had also become South Africa’s leading onion producing region. The purpose of Korkom thus expanded its focus, so as to incorporate both markets and assist both onion and potato growers with matters such as planting and market planning. The Korkom members currently produce over 3000 hectares of onions every year.
The MKS/Korkom tour consisted of visits to key onion growers and packers in Tasmania and South Australia. These included, Sumich, Premium Fresh, Perfecta Fresh, Charlton Farms, Rowett Onions, Rivapak and Comit Farms.
Throughout the week the group was able to see a wide range of production areas and techniques used by the local growers. The South African growers were particularly interested in:
- Machine harvesting – due to the relatively low cost of labour and high unemployment rates in South Africa, much of the harvesting is done by hand. Given the large scale of onion production grown by individual growers in South Africa – on average between 100 and 200 hectares and some as large as 600 hectares – there is an eagerness to mechanise more of their production where possible. Some individual growers currently employ over 1000 people per day.
- The curing of freshly harvested onions in bins in South Australia. In the Koue Bokkeveld (Western Cape province) onions are lifted by hand and then covered with straw for around 2-3 weeks, before they are harvested and stored in timber bins. Given the similarity in temperatures between the Koue Bokkeveld and South Australia, growers are keen to incorporate new techniques so as to better streamline their harvesting and storage processes. In contrast to the timber bins, the temperature-controlled reefers seen in Tasmania, were something completely new to the Korkom growers.
- Direct sowing, packing processes, machinery & disease control. Many of the South African growers control the entire process – from transplanting and production through to the packing and supply of major supermarket retailers. During the tour, they were able to see harvesters in action, examine automated grading and packing machinery and also discuss key growing techniques and disease control with Australian growers. All of this proved very valuable information.
We would like to thank all the growers and packers that assisted in showing the South African visitors their fields and packing facilities. It proved a very enjoyable and successful tour.