I am Dr Pieter Swanepoel from Department of Agronomy.
I am the Chair of the Department in ​the AgriSciences faculty at Stellenbosch University.
What is agronomy?
I'm going to tell you more about our Department and opportunities for students in our Department.
Agronomy is the science and technology of producing food, fuel and fibre, i.e., producing
food for human consumption as well as feed for animals. Agronomy is all about crop management
which also entails managing the environment in which the crop is grown. That environment needs to
be managed in such a way that optimal production can be attained while still being sustainable.
Therefore without damaging the environment so that it can be sustained for future generations.
Crops have certain physical requirements and that includes soil. Soil health is therefore a
big focus area of agronomy. We need to make sure that the soil health is sustained and that we also
maintain or even enhance the soil environment in which crops are grown.
Climate also plays a big role. We need to understand the climate,
choose crops that are suited for a specific climate and then manage the crops accordingly.
Agronomy is linked to many other disciplines. For instance, soil science, soil health. You need to
understand soils. Agricultural economics: Crops need to be produced in a profitable way.
Plant pathology and entomology: the crop pests and diseases need to be managed.
Genetics: breeding new cultivars and ensuring that the right cultivar and the right genetics
are chosen for a specific context or environment, and production system.
Animal science: Agronomy is about producing feed for animals as well;
so pasture science is therefore also a big part of agronomy.
There are six strengths of Department of Agronomy. What we do is not limited to these strengths, but
I would like to tell you more about what we do. The first strength is conservation agriculture.
Conservation agriculture is based on three principles: (1) no tillage;
(2) ensuring that the soil is covered with something that has organic origin or even cover crops;
(3) ensuring that there is a diverse number of crops produced in the system rather than monoculture.
Conservation agriculture systems are well developed and in the Western Cape we have a
specific focus on conservation agriculture systems in Mediterranean-type climates.
This winter rainfall region is a particularly good region for producing winter cereals like wheat and canola.
As with all environments, this region has its own unique challenges.
Our second strength is vegetable production under protection
is vegetable production in soil-less systems, for instance tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.
Vegetable production in soil/in the field.
Tomatoes and potatoes are some of the important crops.
Weed science – Weed science also cuts across conservation agriculture and vegetable production systems.
It is critical to ensure that weeds are managed in a sustainable way to ensure that crop
production remains profitable and sustainable. Orphan crops and indigenous crops
Cultivated pastures, including grasslands and rangelands.
There are three broad programmes that
students can consider when interested in studying agronomy at Stellenbosch University.
The first one is a bachelors in agricultural science, crop production systems with agronomy
in combination with entomology, genetics, plant pathology or agricultural economics.
The choices are based on the student's preference but also their plans for their future careers.
The second programme is a bachelors in agricultural science crop production systems with agronomy,
agricultural economics and animal science and the last one is a Bachelor in agricultural science:
Soil and water management with soil science and agronomy.
Our students enjoy good prospects in industry. Agronomy is a scarce skill and is in
high demand where demand usually exceeds supply. These are some of the job opportunities that
students and all our graduates can look forward to but it's certainly not limited to these.
Some of them include the fertiliser industry, seed industry, plant protection. There are also
many other opportunities including agricultural business management, research and development,
agricultural advisors or scientists and government and academia and other niche markets.
Agronomy is an applied science. It is practical so we take the students out
to farms, we expose them to industry, we show them what
they can expect so that by the time they graduate they are well rounded students and ready
to enter the industry with confidence. Please do not hesitate to contact me.
My email address is pieterswanepoel@sun.ac.za and my landline number is 0218084668
Thank you.