Business

'You're either in, or you're out!' Glenneis Erasmus reports on the Hex River Valley farmers and ­farmworkers who are 'in' and making transformation work.

The dairy industry and various government departments are hoping to join forces to introduce a school milk ­progamme to improve the health and learning abilities of South Africa's children.

It's big, it's flat, it's a land of extremes - including blistering droughts. But while farming remains a ­fundamental part of Australian life, it has taken a heavy toll on the enviroment. Chris and Mathilde Stuart take a tour of ­Australia and discovered problems that make South African farmers' woes seem almost manageable.

'Farming is not for sissies', says emerging ­commercial farmer André Thops of Olyfkloof farm in the Hex River Valley. He sites the lack of cash flow and access to funds as the key restraining factors experienced by ­emerging farmers. To counter these factors he diversifies his wine grape, olive and broiler chicken operations with cash crops.

Following the article“Untapped emu oil well -a lucrative alternative?”published in Farmer's Weekly on 19 October 2006, SA emu farmer Shane Trollope was inundated with more than 300 enquiries about this new and potentially lucrative enterprise. As a result Shane and the SA Emu Association hosted an Emu Information Day on his farm. Lloyd Phillips discovers some valuable management tips for aspirant emu farmers.