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News snippets/Nuusbrokkies
Tribute to Dr Pip Nelson
Top wheat researcher
nominated for award
Croplife South Africa
takes a leap of faith
into the future
Mielieboere Bonsmaras se produksieveiling
oortref stoutste verwagtinge
I
n the early hours of Christmas Day last year, Dr Pip
(Sydney Walter) Nelson, one of South Africa’s most
recognised maize breeders at local and international
level, passed away peacefully at the age of 78 in
Johannesburg, following progressive illness.
After school, Dr Nelson obtained a BSc in Agriculture
in 1960 at the University of Natal with a Genetics major.
He was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Scholarship
in 1964 and attended North Carolina State University in
the USA from 1965 to 1968, where he completed
both MSc and PhD degrees in the field of quantitative
genetics. He was elected a member of the Honour
Society of Agriculture, Gamma Sigma Delta.
He worked as a maize breeder for the Federal Govern-
ment of Rhodesia & Nyasaland (1961 - 1964) and on his
return from the United States worked as maize breeder and head of the research station
for the Zimbabwe Government (formerly Rhodesia). From 1972 to 1976, he was the maize
breeder at the Rhodesian Seed Maize Association.
Dr Nelson immigrated to South Africa in 1976 and was appointed to start and head a plant
breeding research unit for Ciba Geigy in South Africa. In 1988 he joined Sensako as general
manager of summer crops research, which included crops such as maize, sunflowers,
sorghum, soybean and dry beans.
In 1999 Dr Nelson retired from Sensako and launched Nelson Genetics, continuing work
that included discovery of the gene HtN (
Helminthosporium turcicum Nelsonii
) which
carries resistance to northern leaf blight in maize and the development of maize hybrids
focussed especially on improved drought tolerance. By 2016, his hybrids had achieved over
400 000 mt of sales throughout much of the African continent.
Dr Nelson will be dearly missed by his colleagues and friends. He leaves behind his wife,
Lyn, sons Lloyd and Grant and grandchildren, Brendan and Carol.
C
ongratulations to Dr Rene Prins,
owner of CenGen, who was nomi-
nated for an NSTF-South 32 Award
in the category: Research for inno-
vation – SMME.
CenGen is a privately-owned company
that provides molecular genetic services to
various agricultural industries. They focus
on the implementation of molecular genom-
ics technologies in a variety of plants,
whilst also participating in various research
projects.
Dr Prins has maintained her involvement
with academia and student training and
has a major focus on building expert net-
works with collaborators locally and inter-
nationally.
C
roplife South Africa is an industry
association who serves its mem-
bers and consumers to ensure sus-
tainable food production and food
security while maintaining high levels of
environmental compliance.
The South African crop protection indus-
try is repositioning itself with a number of
ventures not only in the agricultural sector,
but also in the broader South African soci-
ety. The former President of CropLife South
Africa, Mr Marcel Dreyer, initiated the repo-
sitioning and it will be rolled out further in
the coming years by the new leadership.
A new Croplife South Africa executive coun-
cil was elected on 7 March with Ms Cicelia
van Rooi (Dow AgroSciences) as president
and Mr Marius Boshoff (Villa Crop Protec-
tion) as vice-president. Other members
elected to the council are Messrs Kobus
Steenekamp (Monsanto), Antonie Delport
(Syngenta), Quinton Cross (Nulandis), Chris
Thompson (Laeveld Agrochem), Jacques
du Preez (Nexus), Paul Roux (Avima),
Marcel Dreyer (Arysta LifeScience), Dr Klaus
Eckstein (Bayer), Messrs Rolf Dieckmann
(Viking Distributors), Johan du Plesis
(Adama) and Tom Mabesa (
ex officio
Croplife South Africa).
1: Op Mielieboere Bonsmaras se 23ste produksieveiling (2 Maart 2017 op Hopefield, Viljoenskroon)
is lot 9 (ABB14 – 101) vir die hoogste prys van R90 000 aan Mike Marks van Rona Meule,
Vredefort, verkoop. Die bul spog met ‘n uitstaande bouvorm en topseleksiewaardes vir groei.
Laurence Allem, van Allem Brothers, Viljoenskroon, is die teler. Die 27 bulle op die veiling het
gemiddeld R41 778 stuk behaal.
2: Mike Marks (regs) by Laurence Allem (links) en Vincent Marks, sy seun.
73
June 2017
RELEVANT
SA GRAAN/GRAIN
REDAKSIE
Dr Pip Nelson
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