No Till Farming

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As part of their farm visits programme, Dargle Conservancy arranged a morning at Gartmore farm in Karkloof to learn more about the No-Till method of growing crops. Charlie McGillivray welcomed everyone at the Karkloof Conservation Centre and explained the concepts. IMG_6156 In Charlie’s experience, this method of growing crops builds soil, increases biodiversity and reduces costs – illustrating that farming and conservation can co-exist. Everyone walked through one of the newly fields and went to see how the planter was working. IMG_6162 Kevin Barnsley said “Attendees were able to get a better understanding of the wisdom behind No Till that has been accrued over many years at a commercial level along with the principal of finding a happy medium between successful commercial production and being good custodians of the land from a long term conservation perspective.” IMG_6161 The areas that are wetlands, are kept untouched and host many different bird species. IMG_6158 After tea, Charlie showed a presentation that he and Ren Stubbs had put together. res 20131107_124614 An interesting and enjoyable morning.  If you missed it, learn more about No Till farming here. IMG_6159

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About Midlands Conservancies Forum

Welcome to the Midlands Conservancies Forum Blog. The conservancy movement in South Africa has its roots in KZN Midlands with Balgowan being the first conservancy established in 1978 by landowners in the area who were concerned about the reduction in the number of game and general degradation of the environment. Today there are 14 conservancies within or overlapping the Umgeni Local Municipality. In keeping pace with international environmental issues and the ever-increasing threat to our dwindling biodiversity the conservancy movement has expanded its influence to include challenges way beyond the founding concerns for the reduction in game and general degradation of the environment. The fact of the matter is that, at the very least, the state of the environment in the KZN Midlands is of vitally and direct importance to well in excess of 3 million people who depend largely on this region for their fresh water. In terms of global the planet has 34 biodiversity hotspots which are the Earth’s most biologically rich and threatened areas. These hotspots hold especially high numbers of unique species, yet their combined area now covers only 2.3 percent of the Earth's land surface. South Africa is home to 3 of the 34 global biodiversity hotspots and the Midlands not only falls into the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany hotspot but is one of the 21 priority nodes that have been identified by the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund for investment aimed at securing existing biodiversity. The Midlands Conservancy Forum is proud to have been awarded a two year grant that has been used to establish the MCF Biodiversity Stewardship project that is working closely with KZN Wildlife. The reality of the Conservancy movement is that it has until know been championed by volunteers who are landowners and, in many cases, have precious little time and therefore this needs to be used to the maximum potential. This has lead to the establishment, and current success, of the MCF. It is an ideal forum to share knowledge, experiences and collectively tackle common issues in the most co-0rdinated and effective way possible. It is also a forum that has the capacity, through its landowner support base, geographical influence and biological inventory, to attract funding for critical environmental projects. It is also a forum for any and all government departments, NGOs and industries to engage with environmentally minded landowners. Through this blog we hope to promote the aims of the MCF in general and the sharing of information in particular. It is your platform to express and respond to ideas and concerns. Please use it wisely and respectfully!

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