2022 Fertasa AGM And Congress

The 63^rd Fertasa AGM was held virtually on the 12^th of April 2022

The Chairperson for the meeting was Henk le Roux in his capacity as Chairperson of the Fertasa Board of Directors for the 2021 financial year.  The Annual Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2021 for the Fertilizer Association of Southern Africa NPC were approved, as well as the appointment of the current auditors MFG Accountants Inc., for the next year.

The Chair of the Fertasa Board, Henk le Roux (NWK) and the Vice-Chair, Rian Briedenhann (InteliFert) had resigned from the Fertasa Board of Directors due to retirement and company reorganization, respectively. Both were thanked for their tenure as directors of Fertasa.

Pieter Henning from Industrial Commodities Holdings and Tom Mason from Metson World were elected as directors in their place. Both these directors were congratulated and wished a long and successful tenure.

The new Chair and Vice-Chair will be duly elected after the necessary nomination and election process and will be announced within the next month.

 

The following awards were announced:

Honorary membership:

Pieter van Niekerk (2021)

Dr André Nel (2021)

Dr John Purchase (2022)

 

Excellence and Appreciation Award:

Dr Nicole Hart.  (2021)

Mr Henk le Roux (2022)

 

Gold Medal: for lifetime service to the Agricultural Industry

Prof Piet Steyn (2021)

Dr JJ (Koos) Bornman (2022)

 

These awards will be done at an awards ceremony to be held later this year.

 

The 62^nd Fertasa Annual Conference was held on the 13^th of April. The theme was:

“Lessons Learnt from Covid-19 Pandemic”

 

The Fertasa annual report was presented by Henk le Roux in his capacity as Chairperson during the 2021 financial year.

 

The Fertasa annual report is available on the Fertasa Website.

The following presentations were made:

Dr John Purchase (previous CEO of AgBiz)

Title: “SA Agribusiness in the “VUCA” World, Building Partnerships to Sustainability”

 

Mr Theo Boshoff (new (CEO of AgBiz)

Title: “Legislative Lessons and Challenges”                                           

 

Mr Pieter Taljaard (CEO of Grain SA)

Title: “Crop Production Lessons and Challenges”

 

Prof Theo Venter (Independent Political Analyst)

Title: “Making Sense…..Politics through the Prism of a Pandemic”

 

The presenters succeeded in outlining and discussing the relevant Business, Legislative, Crop production environment and Political situation of South Africa as affected by, not only the Covid-19 impact but also by current turmoil globally. They gave sound advice on what needs to be done and by whom for survival and success.

 

All the presentations, thanks to our presenters, are available on the Fertasa Website for perusal.

 

The next Fertasa event is the annual Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition Symposium to be held on the 24^th and 25^th of August. Focus will be on “Plant Nutrient Efficiency: Challenges of Quantification”.  Fertilizer prices and most other inputs for crop production are extremely high.  Fortunately, grain prices are also at a premium.  How do crop producers manage all the variables?  What principles should be followed when fertilizing?

 

We are inviting experts on this to advise us during the Symposium and follow-up workshop.