Ububele, in collaboration with Pessl Instruments Austria, implemented this system on an exclusive basis for the Yield Group of companies. In addition, the company’s recent acquisition of Turf-Ag Products, a company that imports and distributes agricultural and turf irrigation equipment throughout the country, compliments this monitoring service.

This is a valuable addition to Ububele’s service offering and to its ability to partner with its extensive base of farmer customers to encourage more effective farming, thereby enabling them to become more competitive and to increase their sustainability for the future. By implementing the climate monitoring system, a farmer can potentially save up to 60% on water costs. A saving of this magnitude cannot be ignored.

“Water is a scarce resource across the continent and water management has to be a critical resource focus area in Africa going forward. We believe that scientific farming is the only solution to the world’s growing demand for food,” says Bertie Cloete, Ububele CEO.

Most farmers rely on innovation in all fields of agricultural sciences to offer solutions to the challenges presented by the ever-growing food scarcity challenge.

“Monitoring, analysis and dissemination of accurate field level climate data is a key area of need. Understanding the effects of climate today, as well as the future impact of changing climatic conditions on our production systems, will be vital in ensuring that our farmers remain competitive. A very exciting part of the service includes the prediction of key pests and diseases, which will allow for optimization of control measures at farm level,” adds Cloete.

So far, Ububele has installed five operational climate monitoring system clusters to provide its clients with accurate, up-to-date weather information. Each cluster consists of one main weather station and five secondary stations that monitor soil water content. The five clusters are situated in Kroonstad, Koppies, Christiana, Wolmeransstad and Lichtenburg. The company will install around 70 further clusters across South Africa over a three-year period.

Details of the climate monitoring system

The instruments supply farmers with accurate, real-time information on water, levels of moisture in soil, leaves, air and wind. They also measure precipitation, atmospheric pressure, humidity and temperature, wind speed and direction, collecting all the vital data required for the efficient management of crops. This data is then available through a website: www.fieldclimate.com in near real-time, where customers can log in from anywhere.

Each climate monitoring cluster has an early-recognition and warning function, which helps to plan, control, and manage complex weather-dependent processes. For example, they measure soil water content at six depths, which enables farmers to know exactly how much water is available to the plants during the growing season. This will result in better irrigation scheduling throughout the season.

Moreover, soil temperatures are measured, which will assist farmers regarding planting times. Further parameters include frost warnings, five days detailed weather forecasts, disease modelling and consequential optimal spraying times to name but a few. We intend to use this vital data and collaborate with universities and other research institutes to study the impact of climate in our farming regions.

This announcement comes only days after the announcement of the acquisition of a majority stake in Turf-Ag Products, which positions Ububele well in the water management arena.

Commenting on the results Bertie Cloete, Ububele CEO, said: “It has been six months now since Ububele decided to primarily exit from the food sector and focus all of its energy on agriculture. This strategic decision paid off, in that it moved the company from a loss making position for the prior six month period, to a profitable turnaround of more than 130%. During the period we increased our sales by more than 13%, our attributable profit by more than 120% and very importantly, our cash generated from operations increased with more than 190% from R13 million to R37 million.”

Ububule recently announced the acquisition of a 51% shareholding in Turf-Ag Products Proprietary Limited (“Turf-Ag”) for nearly R3.1 million.

Turf-Ag, which operates throughout South Africa, imports and distributes agricultural and turf irrigation equipment and supplies products to the agriculture and turf market. The company holds the distribution rights to the well-known American irrigation brand, Hunter.

Commenting on the acquisition, Cloete said: “We consider water management to be a critical future resource focus area in Africa and believe that scientific farming is the only solution to the world’s growing demand for food. Through our exciting agro-chemical and biological product and service range, combined with our new investment in water management and irrigation, we are well positioned to assist our farmers to be more competitive and sustainable for the future. Ububele will continue to invest in scientific products in future, whether by acquisition or through organic growth, to grow the business even further.”

The effective date of the acquisition is 1 April 2013.

Commenting on the transaction, Ububele CEO, Bertie Cloete said: “This transaction forms part of our strategy to disinvest in the short- to medium-term from the food sector and divert all of our available resources and effort into the agricultural sector. The global emphasis on food security and the current high agricultural commodity prices make the agricultural sector very lucrative.”

Commenting further, Cloete said:  “We are proud of what we achieved in turning around these two businesses while they were part of Ububele.  The value added to them is evident in the price we have achieved in this transaction.”

However, this is not completely the end of the road for Ububele and UDP. During this year, Ububele was awarded the title of second most socioeconomic responsible company in South Africa by Financial Mail.

“This was mainly due to our dairy entrepreneurial development projects in Makapanstad and Soweto. Ububele will remain the custodian of these projects and for this reason one of our directors, June Matala, will stay on UDP’s board,” added Cloete.

UDP is an award-winning manufacturer and supplier of ice-cream, soft serve, frozen novelties, frozen yogurt and related ice-cream products, and Uni-Way is a logistical company that operates with its own vehicle fleet within the cold chain in South Africa.  New Manco, the purchaser, is an associate of, and represented by, Stephan Abraham Roux, currently an executive director on the board of Ububele. As a result, the disposal is regarded as a related party transaction in terms of the Listings Requirements of the JSE. The management and staff of UDP and Uni-Way are also shareholders of New Manco.

The effective date of the Disposal will be 1 December 2012, which is subject to the approval by Ububele shareholders in general meeting.

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Written and distributed by: Arcay Financial Communications

Eight teams participated in the tournament which proved to be a resounding success.

The following schools participated:

• Landboudal
• GWK
• Van Druten invitation team
• Henneman
• Diamantveld VX
• Kroonstad Landbou
• Hartswater
• Landbouskool Noord Kaap

The games were played on 2, 4 and 6 April and the Griqualand West Rugby Union held a training day for all the boys on 3 April.  They also officiated all the games. Van Druten played against Kroonstad in the final and won 15 -13.

The closing function was held in a marquee tent on the rugby field on 6 April and South African signer, Danie Niehaus entertained the boys during a three-course meal.  Each player received a medal for participating as well as a gift pack. The winners each received a gold medal while each player from Kroonstad received a silver medal.

All games will be screened on Super Sport.

Yield is a leading player in the distribution of fungicides, herbicides and insecticides, as well as plant growth regulators, additives, soil improvement agents and other biological products.  Yield simplifies the farmer’s access to these products via its field of specialists and a network of field depots.

The use of agricultural chemicals to combat pests and diseases, as well as the use of plant growth regulators, has increased agricultural yield more than ten-fold.  Yield’s extensive distribution network and in-house registration department contributes to the dissemination of new agricultural technology.

Yield strives to supply products and expertise to farmers, enabling them to farm scientifically and sustainably- achieving both food security and prosperity.

Yield is committed to the sustainable success of farming communities throughout South Africa, as demonstrated by its sponsorship of the highly inaugural rugby tournament.

For Yield, it is extremely important to plough back into these communities, thus helping to nurture tomorrow’s generation of farmers.

Yield will be hosting this tournament next year again on a bigger scale.

It is important for Ububele to make a difference in the communities that we operate in. It is not about money, but rather an act of responsibility by giving back and to help build a sustainable future for us all.

It is important for us to build true, lasting relationships which will lead to sustainable development that will benefit all parties involved. Through the various projects that we support, we have developed entrepreneurship, we have created jobs and we have increased the livelihood of these communities.

We will continue to do our part in contributing to a better future.

To read the whole article, click on the link below.

Financial Mail – 27 April 2012 – Ububele’s Socioeconomic development

Ububele CEO Bertie Cloete told the Vunani Securities small to mid-cap conference that Ububele was determined to become a national ice cream supplier and would look to complement its Gauteng-based facilities by buying out additional production plants in Cape Town and Durban.
Cloete reckoned Ububele would become the third-biggest ice cream supplier in SA behind dairy giant Nestle and Ola. “We will double our ice cream capacity this year. Dairy will do R550m in revenue for Ububele in two years’ time.”

Ububele’s ice cream thrust comes at a time when the company’s food production offering appears to be detracting from its promising agri services segment (mainly supplying fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides to farmers) and its profitably niched airline catering business in Namibia.
In a recent trading update Ububele warned shareholders that its investment in its Just Fruit and Veg subsidiary, which process fruit and catering contracts, would be fully impaired after continued losses. Just Fruit and Veg looks likely to be sold or shut down after being classified a discontinued operation.

Ububele technically “inherited” the ice cream business after a 2009 reverse listing into the shell of Milkworx, an unconvincing and unprofitable ice cream maker. Ububele has since restructured the ice cream business, which is now a soft serve ice cream supplier to fast food chains including McDonald’s, Maxi’s and Kauai.

Cloete indicated there was an opportunity to supply national retailers, which would require the ice cream business to have a national presence. “We already have our own logistics operations in place.”
Concerns have been raised about Ububele’s determination to service large retail contracts, which often carry punitive settlement terms.
Cloete said effort to extend the ice cream business would not hinder Ububele’s operating margin.

“In fact, it might increase our profit margin by as much as 1%, even though retail is a tight market.”

Marc Hasenfuss
Financial Mail, 16 March 2012

Civilization depends on our expanding ability to produce food efficiently, which has markedly accelerated thanks to science and technology. The use of chemicals for fertilization and for pest and disease control, the induction of beneficial muttons in plants with chemicals or radiation to improve yields and the mechanisation of agriculture have all increased the amount of food that can be grown on each acre of land by as much as 10 times in the last 100 years. These extraordinary increases must be doubled by 2050 if we are to continue to feed an expanding population.

Ububele has established itself over the past ten years as a senior player in the market for knowledge–based agriculture and food processing and will continue to do so in the many years to come, assisting the world in increasing its food yield to fill the growing demand of a growing population.