Martin Prince St, Somerset West, South Africa, 7130 Tel +27 21 850 0795Email admin@rovertours.co.za.co.zawww.rovertours.co.

za

October 2016 Newsletter

Farm Progress Show August/September 2016

Ed Naude, our tour director, came back from the USA at the beginning of September where he had
accompanied a small group of farmers on a visit to the
(our annual flagship tour
every August/September) and the US cornbelt the area in the midwest of the United States where
maize and soybean production have been in operation since the 1850s. The belt extends over the west
of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and eastern Nebraska and Kansas.

Dolf Naude is 1.88m tall

Corn cob measures

23cms

"It's flat, flat, flat and looks like

the Free State, but they produce
about 300 million tonnes of
maize per year; we produce
perhaps 13 million tons in a
good year. The plants are about
3 meters high and the heads
start at about 1.8 m high. No
wonder it's possible to harvest
19-20t / ha on dry land. The
farmers have absolute perfect
conditions to produce corn and
soybeans; they have a full water
profile and seem to be
completely unconcerned about
moisture stress. Their soil is very
deep so there are less
processes required. The
Americans have great respect
for our South African farmers;
they always say our farmers will
be able to farm in America but
American farmers will not be
able to farm in South Africa,
where water scarcity, political
instability, drought, labour
problems and theft all play a
major part of the challenges we
face."
Ed Naude

Team at Chicago Board of Trade

Completely Autonomous Tractor

Ed was accompanied by Mr & Mrs Andre and Alma Tonkin from Standerton, Gavin Tarr, Lynne Davids
and Richard Perks from Natal and Eds brother Dolf Naude from the Free State. The trip started in Des
Moines with visits to Du Pont Pioneer Head Quatrers and the Louis Dryfess Ethonal Facility. The next
day everyone attended the Farm Progress show
(http://farmprogressshow.com/ ) where the highlights were the new technology
available for farming practices and the fine quality of the exhibitors stands (see
the pic of the completely Autonomous Tractor and the links on YouTube for the
Farm Progress Show e.g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOrXiIByXgo).Then it was on to Waterloo
to visit the John Deere cab assembly plant and Cinnamon Ridge farms where
John Maxwell, previously a farmer of the year award winner, farms maize and
soya and has a dairy herd of about 300 jerseys. Next day it was a visit to the
John Deere world HQ and their fascinating Museum & Pavilion in Moline.
Rounding off the tour in Chicago to the Tee Jet factory, where all the spray
nozzles are manufactured, the Chicago Board of Trade trading floor and lastly a day off for sightseeing
around the windy city, before flying back to sunny South Africa.

Alfa Expo
We recently spent a week promoting our up-coming tours at
the Alfa Expo in Parys held this year from 27th to 20th
September. We were in the Veeplaas tent which we shared
with a number of other exhibitors like BKB, manned by Mike
van den Berg and the team - we watched sheep shearing at
its best at this stand, performed every hour or so by world
champion shearers; Farmboek manned by the owner Andre
Groenewa (see web link for more info
https://www.farmboek.com/) and the University of the Orange
Free State manned by Dominique Bougard, Anne Calitz and
their team, to name but a few.

In the news
Eduan Naude was interviewed by Elsa Esterhuizen from Grootplaas on Kyknet recently; see the link
under media on our webpage for the full interview.

Upcoming Tours
We try to anchor our international tours around trade shows as we feel there is a vast and varied
amount of information available under one roof when one attends a show. To that end we are we are
very excited about some new tours coming up in February and March 2017.

First on our list is the Sima Tour Paris International Agribusiness Show
(https://en.simaonline.com/

This is a Bi-annual Show held in Paris every two years so the next
one after this will be in 2019 - aimed for the grain and dairy industry
or mixed farming. We will start the week off visiting grain farms and
factories in the area and round off the week with a little sightseeing in
Paris and attending the SIMA show.
Highlights
Latest equipment and
technology on display at SIMA
Sima African summit
Agco Factory
Farms with wheat, canola, corn,
barley, peas and beets.
Limousine and Holstein herds
Cheese Factory

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Next up - the Pecan

Tour

https://www.westernpecan.org/

We are honoured to be doing this tour as a multi-brand tour with Rovic Leers, Netafim, Bester Fruit &
Nuts and Inteligro. We will attend the Western Growers Pecan Association annual conference in Las
Cruses, New Mexico; this Association celebrates their 50 year anniversary in 2017 and the conference
promises to be most informative for the attendees. From Las Cruces we will travel to Tucson to visit
orchards and processing plants, then on to Fresno to visit Netafim offices and the Flory Factory in
Salida, before traveling to San Francisco for a day off of sightseeing before returning to South Africa.

Highlights:
Pecan Orchards
Processing facilities
New Mexico University
Western Pecan Growers
Association Conference.
Nurseries
Flory Factory
COE Factory

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And then a really special one; The

Houston Livestock & Rodeo Tour

http://www.rodeohouston.com/

Aimed primarily for the livestock industry but honestly, who can resist the chance to visit a show that
has everything from concerts, calf catching and rodeos to name but a few. Follow the web link to view
a few of the videos from previous years.

Highlights
Houston Livestock and Rodeo
Show
Cattle Ranchers
Feedlots
Cattle Breeder Bodies
Livestock Handling Equipment
Manufacturers
Meat Processing Facilities
Share this experience with as we travel to Fort Worth, Texas to visit Stockyards and Embryo
Laboratories; Feedlots and Calf & Cow operations in San Antonio and a few cattle breeder associations
and livestock handling facilities in and around the Houston area before soaking up all the thrills and
spills the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show has to offer.

************************************
For more information on all our tours, visit our website www.rovertours.co.za
email admin@rovertours.co.za / ednaude@rovertours.co.za
call our office

021 850 0795

Eduan Naude

082 563 5688

Freda Strydom

073 846 3757

Twenty years from now you will only be disappointed by the things you didnt do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbour.
Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain