Cranburn Farm – Regenerative Sugar Farming

After more than 100 years of tillage, the sugarcane fields of Cranburn Farm’s soil organic carbon is at healthy levels. Ever since the ground was first turned the soil carbon levels of KwaZulu-Natal’s sugar cane fields have plummeted. Despite the fact that sugarcane is a perennial crop and the fields don’t have to be ploughed every year, the extensive tilling work done every ten or so years when then crop is replanted results in considerable carbon oxidation into the atmosphere. Other management practices that contribute to further carbon oxidation from the soils include burning of the trash (dead leaves) before a field is cut and the application of synthetic fertilisers.

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Breeding resilience amongst all odds

I have decided that the degradation that took place will not determine my future. The sun is setting on a degraded past and rising to a restorative future. We are the generation that must act; I acted on my farm. This is was able to do with the help of a large number of people, including the Subtropical Thicket Restoration Programme, the restoration unit of Rhodes University, Living Lands, and the Government of South Africa.

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