Agriculture

SERVICES TO THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

We render the following specialised water and soil services to clients in the agricultural sector:

Water use licensing

We support farmers in ensuring water security for long and short term crop protection by:

• Conducting of Pre-validation and Verification (VnV) of Water Rights and Potential
• Strategic planning of water use,
• Planning, facilitation and implementation of studies in support of Integrated Water Use Licence Applications (NWA 36 of 98(s21))

Water and Groundwater Resource Development and Management

Farming revolves around water. We have 30 years of experience in:

• Groundwater status and potential assessments
  
• Geological and geophysical surveying for siting of boreholes
• Drilling and testing of boreholes
• Establishment of management and monitoring protocol
• Automated monitoring and management systems
• Hydrological yield modelling, status assessments and potential assessments

Legal Compliance

We conduct Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) in support of:

• Farming activities that require legal compliance
• Clearance of green-fields land
• Expansions of existing activities
• Development of dam footprints

Regional Agricultural Potential Assessments (RAPA)

RAPAs are conducted at a field scale (typically 50 ha scale) as a pre-feasability study to determine an areas suitability for agricultural development through:

• Desktop study on regional geological, geohydrological, climate and natural vegetation information
• Assessment of regional soil distribution based on the published Land Type maps
• Determination of agricultural potential based on the soil forms

Soil Physical Characterisation

As part of optimising crop production, we conduct soil physical surveying based on high-resolution EM (geophysical) surveying and soil mapping to determine:

• Effective Root Depth and Horizon thickness
• Texture and moisture variation across the study area
• Total Exchange Capacity and organic material distribution
• Plant available moisture
• Soil agricultural potential
• Functional soil management zones
• Tillage/ Ripping design
• Elevation/ Aspect/ Slope models
• Variable rate irrigation maps

GIS and mapping

Using the latest in software technologies, we can:

• Conduct mapping of farm infrastructure
• Create high resolution hard copy maps of farms, with all infrastructure
• Create interactive dashboards for viewing, analysis and management of farming activities