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exhibited despite challenges
T
here is certainly no disputing the fact
that Pannar has struck on a winning
recipe with their enormously popu-
lar Extravaganza Days. Wednesday
14 March found the Pannar team at the
Nooitgedacht farm of Mr Nico Maree near
Biesiesvlei in the North West Province.
Maree, and before him his father Mr Johnny
Maree, have been hosting Pannar farmers
days for over 40 years now.
From the moment one walked through
the gates one was instantly immersed in
the Pannar ‘culture’ with gifts of caps and
bags. One couldn’t help but feel the Pan-
nar team was excited about their products
and couldn’t wait to tell us more. Producers
could conveniently place their new season’s
order on the spot.
The tours and presentations ran like a well-
oiled machine with every need catered for.
Producers joined small groups and were
taken through the trial crops to strategi-
cally placed marquees where presentations
were given by their marketing team and
agronomists on different topics of interest.
Judging from the continuous stream of
producers walking through the lush green
maze exhibiting a wide variety of cultivars
and grains, there was great interest in the
display. According to Mr Corné van der
Westhuizen, the North West agronomist,
this season has held numerous challenges
for producers and the local team were under
extreme pressure (as were the producers
in this region) to actually get the trial plots
planted – in fact there was even a moment
when they thought the entire day would
have to be presented under canvas.
The trials were planted much later than
normal, some as late as 23 December last
year, and they were also subjected to pre-
vailing drought conditions.
All things considered what we were able to
view was quite an achievement. The crops
proudly towered above our heads in some
instances and showed off a healthy green
which seems filed with promise. Most of the
trials were 72 days old whereas normally
they would have been at least 100 days old
by Extravaganza Day. This did not detract
from the core message to encourage pro-
ducers to select their seed packages from
what they saw.
Mr Nick Goble, business manager, Pannar
Seed, explained the brand-new business
strategy which is presently being imple-
mented. Following the merger of DuPont
and Dow Chemical to form DowDuPont™,
the company announced in February this
year that the DowDuPont agriculture divi-
sion is to be named Corteva Agriscience™
as it progresses toward becoming a stand-
alone company.
Goble said the familiar Pannar brand will
become part of Corteva Agriscience, but
assured producers that the company we
have known for the past 60 years will con-
tinue with its multi-crop approach and still
RELEVANT
Product information
JENNY MATHEWS,
SA Graan/Grain
contributor
1
2
3
1: Pannar Extravaganza 2018 at Nooitgedacht, Biesiesvlei.
2: Producers Nico Maree and Attie Smook chat in front of the marquee
where producers were busy placing new season’s orders.
3: A group of producers listen attentively to a presentation on the tour.