Question❓| Upskill 📚 | Information ℹ️ | Picture 📷 | Special Offer 🎁

Edition 10

👋 Hey TropicalBytes family, welcome to this week’s edition of Q.U.I.P.S.!

As the fastest-growing subtropical farming community out there, we're thrilled to be your BFF (Best Farming Friend), saving you hundreds of hours by unearthing hidden gems like actionable tips, practical knowledge, industry insights, and so much more - all with the end goal of equipping you for excellence and success.

Before we dive into today’s edition, our ask is for you to please share your own creative ideas, ask any burning questions you may have, or let us know which topics you’d love to see covered.

Remember, we’re here for you - the awesome TropicalBytes community!

Oh, and we can’t forget - We’re celebrating our 10th week of Q.U.I.P.S.! 🎉

A massive thank you to every one of you for your unwavering support, encouraging words, invaluable contributions, and insightful suggestions.

From the bottom of our hearts, we appreciate you. 💚 

And to sweeten this milestone celebration even more, we introduce to you…

This week’s Q.U.I.P.S. is brought to you by:

realIPM

Are you using integrated pest management strategies for optimal results on your farm?

If not, don’t worry because realIPM has got you covered!

We all know every farm is unique, carrying its own individual challenges. And let's be real, there's no one-size-fits-all solution that eradicates all our farming issues.

So?

Well, that’s where realIPM steps in, offering farmers personalised and tailor-made integrated pest management programmes to suit your farm’s specific needs, helping you…

• Increase yield

• Reduce chemical resistance

• And improve the overall health of your plants and soil.

With more than a decade of experience working with macadamia and avocado farmers across southern Africa, realIPM is committed to providing the highest quality biopesticides, beneficial insects, and nutritional products to the agricultural sector.

Here’s what you can expect when partnering with realIPM:

1. Free On-Farm Assessment: Kick things off with a FREE on-site assessment. They'll dive deep into your unique challenges to formulate a tailored, long-term regenerative strategy that complements your current programme.

2. Programme Development: After gathering insights from your assessment, they'll create a preventive guideline that aligns with your farming objectives. This will help you mitigate challenges while reducing chemical inputs.

3. Ongoing Assessments: What's remarkable is their commitment to service. Not only will they deliver products to your farm, but they also provide hands-on technical support, training, and exclusive insights from their regional soil and entomological experts.

If you’re saying “I’m in!”, head on over to realIPM to find out more and sign up for your FREE on-farm assessment today!

Now to today’s piece 🤝

Estimated read time: 3 minutes

In Today’s Email:

• Q: What’s Wrong? 🤷

• U: The Power of Employee Recognition 🏆

• I: How Plants ‘Eat’ 🍽️

• P: A Breath of Fresh Air 🍃

• S: R500 Cash Giveaway! 💰

Question❓

What’s Wrong? 🤷

It’s a bit of a quiz today – just one quick multiple choice type test and, to make sure you don’t cheat, we’ve hidden the answer somewhere at the end of the newsletter.

Give it a go… let us know if you need kudos or a sup! 🤣

Just match the numbers above to one of the letters below. (Yes, there are too many – just to elevate the challenge a tad 😜)

A – Chlorine burn

B – Phosphorous deficiency

C – Nitrogen deficiency

D – Glyphosate poisoning

E – Manganese deficiency

F – Insect damage

G – Magnesium deficiency

H – Copper deficiency

I – Nibbling animal damage 

⏰ Friendly Reminder: Got Any Questions? Submit Them Here to Be Answered.

Upskill 📚

The Power of Employee Recognition 🏆

Upskilling can take on many forms; too often, we limit it to “arts and crafts” for men, probably because that is what’s most comfortable for our outdoor, creative and resourceful ”boer maak ‘n plan” farmers. But, upskilling, by definition, should be something that’s outside of our comfort zones. For most farmers, people management is probably the area in which they are most uncomfortable.

So, let’s go there and learn from a JAFF who seems to have nailed the “people part”.

When visiting JAFF 29, it was clear that relationships were thriving, staff were motivated and the morale was high. There were probably hundreds of other things that went into this - decent salaries, leave, education and more - all aspects that are not directly tracked by TropicalBytes.

So, here’s a simple golden nugget: 

If you emulate this on your farm, it could go a long way towards getting that extra mile from your most valuable business asset - PEOPLE.

Take the 'Employee of the Month' initiative, for instance. It's as simple as it sounds, yet its impact can be tremendous. In this game-changing initiative, workers from various areas of the operation are recognised and celebrated for going 'above and beyond'. The employees themselves vote for the winners (management reviews the final selection) who then receive an award, made up of a prize (something simple like KFC or even a bag of mielie meal) and an office-printed certificate, in front of their peers.

The return on this simple, inexpensive gesture can be extraordinary, not only rewarding the winners but also inspiring the rest of the team.

Read the full detail in JAFF 29; he has some handy tips on how to get the most mileage from this simple people management approach. Plus, he shares a few other invaluable tips for optimising your team’s performance.

Note: A quick heads-up! Our website's in the 'glow-up’ shop for a bit of a digital makeover at the moment, which means we can't link you to JAFF 29's article, nor can you browse any of our other website content at the moment. But hang tight, we'll be back online soon, with a fresh new look and features you're gonna love! 😎

⏰ Friendly Reminder: Share Your Own Creative Upskill Tips Here

Information ℹ️

How Plants ‘Eat’…

Understanding how plants take up water and nutrients is a complete study in itself so trying to cover it in one fifth of a QUIPS newsletter is completely impossible but, as we at TropicalBytes – have impossible for breakfast, we’re going to try anyway… in small portions.

This is why: If we, as plant feeders (farmers), want to make sure our plants produce quality and quantity, quickly, understanding how they are nourished is absolutely vital.

So, over the next few weeks we will cover aspects of this topic, starting at the beginning, with the roots.

Besides being an anchor and support for the plant, roots are also responsible for ingesting most of the plant’s hydration and nutrition. Plants absorb water from the soil by a process called osmosis – the natural movement of water molecules from an area of high concentration, across a semi-permeable, sieve-like membrane (root surface area), to an area of low concentration.

When the soil is moist, it contains a higher concentration of water molecules than the cells inside a root, so water moves from the soil, through the root’s outer membrane, and into the root cells.

Make sure you catch next week’s edition and follow the process …

Upcoming Industry Events

• WoodEX | 27 - 29 June

• FOOD & DRINK TECHNOLOGY (FDT) AFRICA | 13 – 15 July

• NAMPO CAPE | 13 – 16 Sept

• International Macadamia Symposium (IMS ‘23) | 18 to 21 Sept

• PROPAK CAPE | 24 to 26 October

Picture 📷

A Breath of Fresh Air 🍃

Given that it’s holidays for many (schools and those lucky enough to sync), and that we like to be unpredictable - this week’s pic is a literal breath of fresh air. Taken on Umhlanga promenade last week, as the sun fought the clouds in a bit of a winter showdown, putting on a spectacular display.

A typical wintery day in Durban, gotta love ‘em! 🌤️

⏰ Friendly Reminder: Share your farm pics, ideas, tips, or solutions with the TropicalBytes community to inspire one another, overcome challenges, and elevate your operations – together. Share Here

Special Offer 🎁

Win R500! Ready, Set, Go! 🚀

Our inbox has been on fire🔥 with all your recent requests to get friends, colleagues and your farmer pals in on our QUIPS action!

And we say - why not?

So, as a massive ‘high five’ for spreading the QUIPS love, we’re putting up a juicy R500 cash prize! 

The fun part? It’s a race… without the running of course! 😅

Here’s the playbook:

1. Tell your buddies, family, those farmer friends of yours, colleagues, or even that chatty cashier at your local store about our QUIPS newsletter. The more, the merrier!

2. Each new recruit you get to sign up earns you 1 golden ticket 🎫 into our cash prize draw.

3. The first person to bring 5 new subscribers to the QUIPS family scoops the R500 prize!

So, how do you get your mates to sign up?

1. Share our newsletter sign-up link. Post it, tweet it, email it, or go old school and write it on a sticky note.

   👉 Use this link: https://newsletters.tropicalbytes.co.za/subscribe

2. Ask your newly referred friends to reply to our QUIPS welcome email and drop your email address. That way, we know who to issue the golden ticket to for the new member! (Psst! Tell them to look in their promotions or spam folder if the welcome email plays hide-and-seek).

Once we have the first person to bring 5 new friends onboard, we'll crown them the winner (and R500 richer!).

So, get the word out, and let's make the QUIPS family bigger and better!

Good luck! 🤝

That’s a wrap folks! We hope you enjoyed this week’s QUIPS edition.

Don't forget to join us in the comments section below 👇 – it's kinda like a family Braai but better! There, you'll find no screaming kids, awkward photos, or tipsy uncles telling bizarre stories. Let's get the conversations cookin'! 🔥 

Until then, happy farming, deep learning, and warm smiles.

We'll see you next week! 🌱

P.S - Here are the Question Section Answers:

1. E – Manganese deficiency

2. I – Nibbling animal damage

3. C – Nitrogen deficiency

4. H – Copper deficiency

The Comment Corner 💬

Join us in the comments section! Share your thoughts, offer your suggestions and enlighten us with your own pearls of wisdom!

Spread The Word! 📢

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