News

Sheep shearers from across South Africa are gathering in Bloemfontein this weekend to try and secure their place in the national team heading to the Golden Shears World Championship in Le Dorat, France, in July.

The Paramount Chief of the Ndiweni people in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland province, Chief Nhlanhla Felix Ndiweni, has condemned the government’s latest eviction of white farmers in that country.

Agri-technology company Devenish Nutrition, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has announced a £1,7 million (about R32 million) investment in agri-services company Sidai Africa based in Kenya.

The Minister of Agriculture Senzeni Zokwana recently announced that the new total allowable catch for South African abalone (Haliotis midae) was set at 96t for the 2018/2019 fishing season, which was the same as the previous season.

Agri SA and Fidelity ADT, a subsidiary of the Fidelity Services Group, recently signed an agreement in Centurion aimed at curbing the high number of farm attacks and related agricultural crime in South African rural communities.

A new study has revealed how deforestation pressures have increased as a result of the geopolitical instability in the global soya market following the trade tensions between the US and China.

The African Association for Vertical Farming was launched during a recent conference hosted by Izindaba Zokudla (Conversations about Food) at the University of Johannesburg's (UJ) Soweto Campus.

Contracts for the cultivation of marijuana in Germany has been awarded to two Canadian companies.

The Zimbabwean government’s decision to compensate white commercial farmers who lost their land as part of former president Robert Mugabe’s land reform programme was precipitated by pressure from the international community, according to Dr Johan Willemse, independent agricultural economist.

The South African National Consumer Union (SANCU) and the Emerging Black Importers and Exporters South Africa (EBieSA) are contesting the import tariff on chicken proposed by the South African Poultry Association (SAPA).

Unpredictable weather conditions and uncertainty surrounding Brexit have resulted in most of the main milk producing countries in the EU coming under pressure in terms of production in 2018. This was further exacerbated by fodder shortages and rising feed costs.

JSE-listed Zeder Investments, which focuses on the agriculture, food and beverage sectors, managed to deliver comparable recurring earnings and maintain dividends, despite a challenging macro-environment in which the company and its portfolio companies operated during the financial year ended 28 February 2019.

The rain that recently occurred over the western part of the summer grain production region of South Africa will be of great value to the crops still on the land, according to Grain SA (GSA).

Pressure from pro-Palestinian groups has resulted in South African company, Brimstone Investment Corporation, pulling out of a consortium that intends to acquire Clover Industries for a reported R4,8 billion. Brimstone was originally a 15% shareholding partner in Milco SA, a company established for the purpose of acquiring Clover.

It is expected that between 150 million and 200 million pigs could be culled or die in the African swine fever (ASF) epidemic spreading through China, according to a report by Rabobank.

A group of former commercial farmers in Zimbabwe recently lodged a R1,9 billion compensation claim against the South African government and presidency for presiding over the dissolution of the South African Development Community’s [SADC] regional human rights court, the SADC Tribunal.

Almost 83kg of rhino horn from South Africa valued at around R29 million were recently intercepted by Hong Kong customs officials at the Hong Kong International Airport.

A longstanding dispute over EU subsidies that support Airbus and Boeing has led to the US government threatening to introduce punitive tariffs against EU imports amounting to US$11 billion (about R155 billion), including a long list of agricultural products.

The SA Pork Producer’s Organisation (SAPPO) has commended the swift reaction by state veterinary officials in dealing with a case of African Swine Fever (ASF) on a game farm near the controlled zone in North West.¬¬¬

Against the backdrop of widespread flooding in several US states, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey of the Democratic Party have tabled a new economic reform policy in the US Congress called the Green New Deal.