News

Applications are now open for the second annual GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize Competition.

It has been a rough first few months of the year for the Land and Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa (Land Bank).

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced that South Africa will move to a Level 4 lockdown on Friday, 1 May.

Brazil has increased its agricultural export presence in eight countries around the world in recent weeks, amid large-scale lockdowns of populations aimed at containing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

In this special two-part edition of the Weekly Wrap podcast, Farmer’s Weekly journalist Sabrina Dean speaks to Dr John Purchase, CEO Agbiz, about how the COVID-19 lockdown has affected agribusiness and food supply in South Africa.

Farmer’s Weekly has good news for readers who have, during the national lockdown period, been eagerly awaiting the return of the weekly magazine. Even though printing of the magazine had to be further postponed due to the two-week lockdown extension, all readers will now have free access to two digital issues of Farmer’s Weekly magazine. The 1 May issue goes live 24 April and the 8 May issue will be published online on the final day of the lockdown, Thursday, 30 April.

The uncertainty about whether livestock auctions may go ahead during the countrywide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is receiving attention at national level.

Time has run out for smallholder and communal farmers to apply for relief funding from the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform (agriculture department).

A strong increase in global demand for citrus has so far been evident in the 2020 export season, according to Justin Chadwick, CEO of the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa.

The countrywide lockdown enforced to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic has offered a temporary respite for egg producers, as home-cooked meals and baking activities spike.

Numerous complaints have been received from farmers since the lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic, about law enforcement authorities threatening to stop livestock auctions.

The Western Cape Department of Agriculture had made available a R10 million once-off grant for the establishment of a tissue culture facility in Paarl.

In this special edition of the Weekly Wrap podcast, Sabrina Dean speaks to Jaco Oosthuizen, CEO of the RSA Group, about the ‘new normal’ for fresh produce markets and market agents during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

With statistics prior to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic suggesting that one in five people in Africa suffers from hunger, it is important that agriculture be recognised as an “essential service” on the continent.

There has been a slight uptick in trade on the African continent as some restrictions on the movement of food products have been lifted.

Farmers can expect a significant increase in the demand for online retail sales of food directly to end customers due to consumer behavioural changes that occurred during the current lockdowns in countries around the world to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic.

Stakeholders in the agriculture sector have expressed concern about the increase in theft of agricultural commodities during the lockdown period for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic, which is resulting in millions of rand in losses.

Millions of family farmers across Africa are facing economic devastation as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts exports and global food supply chains.

The increasing closure of meat processing plants in the US and Canada amidst the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, will have a marked impact on the agricultural economies in those countries.

The sellers of foodstuffs, who exploit South Africans currently under lockdown restrictions by unjustifiably hiking prices of high-demand staples, will face serious consequences, such as hefty fines and imprisonment.