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Hydroponics

+15

🧑🏽‍🌾 🪏 Building Resilience: Innovation, Land Legacy & Quiet Determination

Jun 29, 2026

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5 min read

🧑🏽‍🌾 🪏 Building Resilience: Innovation, Land Legacy & Quiet Determination

Real resilience is built through collaboration — whether it’s starting a new plant culture system, offering firebreak help to a restituted farm, teaching children to garden, or simply showing up with an open heart and practical support.

Paul Verryn, +7

Hydroponics

+11

⏰🌿 Seeds of Solidarity: Bishop Paul Verryn Hosts a Courageous Conversation on Dignity, Migration and Our Food Future

Jun 16, 2026

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3 min read

⏰🌿 Seeds of Solidarity: Bishop Paul Verryn Hosts a Courageous Conversation on Dignity, Migration and Our Food Future

Bishop Paul Verryn once again created a warm and courageous space for the PV Agri family to gather. In a meeting that moved honestly between the painful realities of xenophobia in Durban and the quiet hope of community gardens and aquaponics systems, we were reminded that food security and human dignity are deeply connected. Voices from Limpopo, Durban, Cape Town, and across the continent joined Bishop Paul in exploring how we can stand together for both the soil and the soul of our communities.

Paul Verryn, +8

Hydroponics

🚜🪴 Friends, Partners, and Cultivators of Change

Jun 8, 2026

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4 min read

🚜🪴 Friends, Partners, and Cultivators of Change

This 40th newsletter of our PV Agri Network was a beautiful tapestry of lived experience, technical progress, honest challenges, and forward-looking ideas. Whether you were present or reading this summary later, we hope it conveys the spirit of possibility that filled the virtual room.

Paul Verryn, +8

Hydroponics

Jun 1, 2026

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3 min read

🚸🥬 Living Harvests & Shared Wisdom

We celebrated real progress on the ground: Bonginkosi’s community cabbage harvest, Manana’s thriving one-month Sedibeng project now linked to a local orphanage, and Nelisa’s joyful first cassava harvest alongside plans for a new demonstration garden in KZN. Rich conversation flowed around practical growing tips and the thoughtful steps needed to bring agriculture into schools.

Paul Verryn, +7

Hydroponics

🌍🍊 Limpopo Breakthrough & Ghana Delegation joins the Discussion

May 18, 2026

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2 min read

🌍🍊 Limpopo Breakthrough & Ghana Delegation joins the Discussion

In one powerful hour we celebrated a major breakthrough in Limpopo, rejoiced in the latest harvest at Reverend Walter Gcabashe Methodist Development Centre in Pietermaritzburg, witnessed the resilience of the Crossroads tunnels, in light of the recent storms in the Western Cape and warmly welcomed a strong delegation from Ghana.

Paul Verryn, +9

Food Kitchens

⛈️❄️ Hope in the Rain: Meeting Highlights

May 11, 2026

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2 min read

⛈️❄️ Hope in the Rain: Meeting Highlights

Amid reports of heavy flooding and freezing temperatures caused by a cut-off low weather system, the team also celebrated real progress on the ground — from disaster relief efforts in Makhanda to a major agricultural breakthrough in Sebokeng. With skills-development programmes advancing and large-scale project plans now fully ready for launch, the meeting once again reminded us that even in challenging times, hope, collaboration, and faithful action continue to bear fruit.

Manana Matima, +11

Hydroponics

🚨 ⛏️ Foot & Mouth Disease, El Niño Risks & Mining Land Restoration

May 4, 2026

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2 min read

🚨 ⛏️ Foot & Mouth Disease, El Niño Risks & Mining Land Restoration

Bishop Paul Verryn welcomed a strong group despite a long list of apologies (Mbata, Anthony, Bonginkosi, Nancy, Bukelewa, Faith, Alfred Modise, Delahart, Manana, Nomvui and others). The conversation was warm, practical and forward-looking, covering weather, livestock disease, economic pressures on farmers, mining-land rehabilitation, and exciting on-the-ground projects.

Emma Archer, +7

Food Kitchens

🧪💡 Gardens Thriving & Bold New Funding Ideas

Apr 27, 2026

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1 min read

🧪💡 Gardens Thriving & Bold New Funding Ideas

Dear PV Agri family and friends,Another encouraging Friday meeting with Bishop Paul Verryn and the team! Here are the highlights from 24 April 2026:

Paul Verryn, +4

Food Kitchens

+12

Mar 30, 2026

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10 min read

🌽🍅 A Fresh Harvest of Hope

Last Friday’s PV Agri meeting, hosted by Bishop Paul Verryn, was more than a check-in — it was a powerful reminder of what happens when hearts aligned with purpose come together. New voices joined old friends, each bringing land, expertise, and a deep longing to see communities fed, empowered, and transformed.If you’ve ever wondered whether our scattered efforts could become something far greater together... this edition will stir your spirit.Dive in and be encouraged.

Manana Matima, +11

Hydroponics

Mar 23, 2026

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7 min read

🌱🐟💰 Tunnels, Growing & Funding

Good morning, family, another productive Friday gathering with Bishop leading the charge, with members joining from across the country. Here’s what’s moving forward in our growing network. The atmosphere was warm and full of momentum as we celebrated tangible progress and fresh opportunities in our shared mission through agriculture.

Emma Archer, +9

Hydroponics

🌞🌧️❄️ Navigating El Niño, Building Regenerative Food Systems & Tackling Mining Transitions

Mar 16, 2026

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8 min read

🌞🌧️❄️ Navigating El Niño, Building Regenerative Food Systems & Tackling Mining Transitions

Hosted by Bishop Paul Verryn, the discussion focused on climate resilience, innovative post-mining land use, practical skills-to-enterprise pathways and urgent community challenges. As always, the emphasis was on turning talk into tangible action through shared resources and partnerships.

Manana Matima, +11

Hydroponics

🧑🏽‍🌾 📊 Balemi Agricultural Survey 2026: Key Findings from 600+ Vaal Farmers Revealed

Mar 9, 2026

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6 min read

🧑🏽‍🌾 📊 Balemi Agricultural Survey 2026: Key Findings from 600+ Vaal Farmers Revealed

Last Friday’s PV Agri meeting delivered one of the most important moments yet for urban agriculture in South Africa. The official results of the Balemi Agricultural Survey — a major new study involving 606 small-scale farmers in the Vaal townships — were presented in full by David Dickinson and Mannana Matima (WiARM).This groundbreaking report exposes the harsh realities facing township farmers (especially women): land hunger in the middle of unused open spaces, water scarcity, widespread theft, poor government support and urgent training needs. But it also lights a clear path forward.

Manana Matima, +11

Hydroponics

🧑🏽‍🌾🌟 Momentum for Liberation Through Land and Leadership

Mar 2, 2026

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5 min read

🧑🏽‍🌾🌟 Momentum for Liberation Through Land and Leadership

Last Friday’s gathering opened with honest reflection and closed with renewed determination.The work the team are doing is not just technical — it carries real hope for food security, community resilience, and dignified livelihoods across Southern Africa.

Manana Matima, +9

Hydroponics

Feb 23, 2026

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9 min read

🏋️‍♂️🛖 Strengthening Lives and Land

In a spirit of determination and collective purpose, members confronted real obstacles while celebrating tangible steps toward food security, skills empowerment, and restored dignity for vulnerable communities across South Africa.

Manana Matima, +11

Bees

🐝💛 Advancing Food Security and Rehabilitation Through Agriculture

Feb 16, 2026

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5 min read

🐝💛 Advancing Food Security and Rehabilitation Through Agriculture

Bishop Paul Verryn brought together dedicated voices from South Africa and Zimbabwe to share progress, insights, and visions for sustainable change. From beekeeping initiatives empowering women and youth to innovative mining-community models and skills training for correctional services, this gathering underscores the real potential for agriculture to transform lives, reduce recidivism, and foster cross-border partnerships that make a lasting difference.

Paul Verryn, +6

Market News

⛏️ ⚠️ Advancing Community Resilience Amid Environmental Challenges

Feb 2, 2026

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5 min read

⛏️ ⚠️ Advancing Community Resilience Amid Environmental Challenges

This weeks session was particularly focused on the longstanding tensions between mining operations and affected communities, underscoring the urgent need for accountability and innovative rehabilitation strategies. Brief updates from Mr. Mbatha and Sheila further highlighted ongoing legal battles and skills-building initiatives, all aimed at empowering vulnerable populations to reclaim agency in the face of environmental and economic pressures. These discussions reflect our collective commitment to transformative action that prioritizes human dignity and ecological integrity.

Manana Matima, +9

AgriSeta

🐄☠️ Foot-and-Mouth Disease Crisis Escalates in Free State

Jan 26, 2026

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5 min read

🐄☠️ Foot-and-Mouth Disease Crisis Escalates in Free State

In this week's Agriculture Meeting hosted by Bishop Paul Verryn, the group received a sobering update on the rapidly spreading Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak. The discussion highlighted the severe economic and emotional toll on farmers, alongside progress reports on food security projects and community initiatives.

Manana Matima, +6

Food Kitchens

+10

🌻 Inspiring Community Gardens: Lessons from Plettenberg Bay

Jan 12, 2026

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9 min read

🌻 Inspiring Community Gardens: Lessons from Plettenberg Bay

Highlighting the power of grassroots innovation, the meeting featured an inspiring presentation from Mary-Anne Mngomezulu of the Native Root Shelter, demonstrating how simple, sustainable practices can transform communities and empower the vulnerable.

Emma Archer, +5

Community

🐞 Cultivating Resilience and Hope: Our 1st Agriculture Meeting 2026

Jan 5, 2026

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6 min read

🐞 Cultivating Resilience and Hope: Our 1st Agriculture Meeting 2026

From drought-stricken rural landscapes to overlooked urban spaces in Johannesburg, team members shared honest updates on challenges like water scarcity and flood recovery, alongside promising initiatives to grow food in abandoned buildings—providing nutrition, skills, and dignity to vulnerable communities, including blind residents facing daily hardship. These efforts are not abstract; they address real human needs, fostering self-reliance and hope where it is needed most.

Emma Archer, +5

Community

🕯️Pausing with Purpose: Reflections from Our Final 2025 Agriculture Meeting

Dec 22, 2025

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6 min read

🕯️Pausing with Purpose: Reflections from Our Final 2025 Agriculture Meeting

With heartfelt Christmas greetings exchanged and plans set for our return on 2 January 2026, the PV Agriculture team closed 2025 grateful for progress made and mindful of the lives touched through sustainable farming efforts. In this season of renewal, we honour the dedication of all who contribute—knowing that every seed planted, every partnership explored, and every quiet act of service makes a lasting difference in vulnerable communities.

Paul Verryn, +3

Food Kitchens

+10

⛏️ 🪴 Mined Land to Food Security, Progress and Challenges in Southern Africa’s Grassroots Projects

Dec 15, 2025

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8 min read

⛏️ 🪴 Mined Land to Food Security, Progress and Challenges in Southern Africa’s Grassroots Projects

Imagine land scarred by mining, lying barren while nearby families struggle to eat. Imagine churches with empty plots that could grow food and income, yet remain fallow. Now imagine ordinary people – guided by faith and practical experience – stepping forward to change that reality. That is exactly what unfolded in the latest meeting of Bishop Verryn’s agriculture and community development platform on 12 December 2025.

Paul Verryn, +6

Food Kitchens

📗 🫘 Seeds of Change Are Being Planted – Quietly, Persistently, Powerfully

Dec 1, 2025

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10 min read

📗 🫘 Seeds of Change Are Being Planted – Quietly, Persistently, Powerfully

Dear Partners, Friday morning’s rain across Gauteng and beyond felt like a blessing on every garden, every bag, every patch of earth we are fighting for. This weeks meeting was shorter than usual (the Bishop had to rush to a teenage-pregnancy prevention event in Birchwoods), but the meeting carried the same fire we have come to recognise as the heartbeat of this movement. Here’s what moved forward today:

Manana Matima, +8

Food Kitchens

🧑🏽‍🌾🌱Hope, Land, Seeds, and Real Community Progress

Nov 24, 2025

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8 min read

🧑🏽‍🌾🌱Hope, Land, Seeds, and Real Community Progress

Dear Friends, Partners, and Fellow Food-Growers, Our meeting was filled with the kind of quiet determination that actually changes lives. Once again we saw that when committed people share knowledge, encourage one another, and refuse to accept “impossible” as an answer, real breakthroughs happen – especially for women, youth, and disadvantaged farmers who are feeding their communities against the odds.

Manana Matima, +5

Food Kitchens

⚖️ 🗽 Advancing Agricultural Resilience: International Ties and Local Struggles

Nov 10, 2025

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9 min read

⚖️ 🗽 Advancing Agricultural Resilience: International Ties and Local Struggles

Advocacy for flexible global partnerships in agriculture, legal interventions to protect vulnerable gardeners from unfair demands, progress in crop yields boosted by rainfall despite infrastructure issues, and the development of educational agendas to align skills with modern needs, all aimed at creating lasting positive impacts for South African families and youth.

Emma Archer, +5

LHR

🌵 🦽 Therapeutic Gardens and Indigenous Plants

Oct 20, 2025

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9 min read

🌵 🦽 Therapeutic Gardens and Indigenous Plants

Waste recycling, practical composting, balancing greens and browns, Green Anglican initiative promoting tree planting and therapeutic church gardens. Discussions emphasized indigenous plants for cultural cleansing, together with project reports

Manana Matima, +10

Community

🧑🏽‍🌾 🪏 Building Resilience: Innovation, Land Legacy & Quiet Determination

⏰🌿 Seeds of Solidarity: Bishop Paul Verryn Hosts a Courageous Conversation on Dignity, Migration and Our Food Future

🚜🪴 Friends, Partners, and Cultivators of Change

🚸🥬 Living Harvests & Shared Wisdom

🌍🍊 Limpopo Breakthrough & Ghana Delegation joins the Discussion

⛈️❄️ Hope in the Rain: Meeting Highlights

🚨 ⛏️ Foot & Mouth Disease, El Niño Risks & Mining Land Restoration

🧪💡 Gardens Thriving & Bold New Funding Ideas

🌽🍅 A Fresh Harvest of Hope

🌱🐟💰 Tunnels, Growing & Funding

🌞🌧️❄️ Navigating El Niño, Building Regenerative Food Systems & Tackling Mining Transitions

🧑🏽‍🌾 📊 Balemi Agricultural Survey 2026: Key Findings from 600+ Vaal Farmers Revealed

🧑🏽‍🌾🌟 Momentum for Liberation Through Land and Leadership

🏋️‍♂️🛖 Strengthening Lives and Land

🐝💛 Advancing Food Security and Rehabilitation Through Agriculture

⛏️ ⚠️ Advancing Community Resilience Amid Environmental Challenges

🐄☠️ Foot-and-Mouth Disease Crisis Escalates in Free State

🌻 Inspiring Community Gardens: Lessons from Plettenberg Bay

🐞 Cultivating Resilience and Hope: Our 1st Agriculture Meeting 2026

🕯️Pausing with Purpose: Reflections from Our Final 2025 Agriculture Meeting

⛏️ 🪴 Mined Land to Food Security, Progress and Challenges in Southern Africa’s Grassroots Projects

📗 🫘 Seeds of Change Are Being Planted – Quietly, Persistently, Powerfully

🧑🏽‍🌾🌱Hope, Land, Seeds, and Real Community Progress

⚖️ 🗽 Advancing Agricultural Resilience: International Ties and Local Struggles

🌵 🦽 Therapeutic Gardens and Indigenous Plants

The PV Agri Report