The bi-annual SA Institute for Agricultural Engineers (SAIAE) symposium, attended by 200 engineers and personnel working in the agricultural and related industries, was held from 6 – 8 September at Berg-en-Dal in the Kruger Park.

This year’s symposium highlights were the technical visits to Malelane Sugar mill, where precision farming and the use of drones were demonstrated; as well as the Neofresh packhouse at Hectorspruit. The packhouse is the biggest paw-paw packhouse in South Africa and is also used for the packaging of mangoes and litchis.

One of the presenters was Ian van Brouwershaven, from the Engineering division at ZZ2, who presented a paper on water resource management strategy for drought relief. Johann du Toit and Johan Grobler, also engineers from ZZ2, were co-authors of the paper.

“The bi-annual SAIAE symposium is a great way to stay abreast of new developments in our field and is a good networking opportunity,” says Johannes.

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