At Langplaas Boerdery near Brits in South Africa’s North West province, Gert and Peet Janse van Rensburg grow irrigated carrots, beetroot and sweet potatoes while applying regenerative farming principles. Their account combines substantial commercial scale with a frank description of mistakes made during the transition.
Cover crops and soil carbon are central
The business farms about 1,000 hectares under irrigation, planting roughly 400 hectares to vegetables each year. It uses soil mapping to target corrections and reports soil carbon levels of 3% to 4%, which the brothers see as an indicator of a functioning biological system.
Before cash crops, mixtures of oats, legumes, brassicas and herbs are grown to add diversity and organic material. The farm still uses ripping and incorporates cover crops before planting. Janse van Rensburg acknowledges that this disturbs soil, but says the system uses cover crops and organic fertilisers to offset some of the damage.
Input reduction has been gradual and context-specific
The farm reports reducing fertiliser dependence by 40% to 70%, with lower pesticide use and improved profitability. Those figures describe one business and should not be treated as guaranteed outcomes for other soils, climates or crops.
The brothers caution against changing an entire system without first understanding soil and plant ecology. Their experience supports a staged approach: learn from experienced growers, measure field conditions, test practices and expect management to keep evolving.
Read the original report: Farmer’s Weekly South Africa.