News

Poultry producer, Astral Foods, has confirmed an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza at a second of its poultry breeding facilities, Welbedach, outside Standerton in Mpumalanga.

The sub-Saharan African agri-food system is undergoing significant changes.

Brazil, the world’s largest sugarcane producer, recently approved the commercial use of genetically modified sugarcane.

If the quality and consistency of beef production among the Eastern Cape’s emerging cattle owners could be rapidly improved, the province would be the leader in top-quality beef production nationally.

Two farmers from KwaZulu-Natal took top honours in NCT Forestry Cooperative’s 2017 Tree Farmer of the Year competition.

Tongaat Hulett has begun construction on its first sugar refinery in Mozambique, to capitalise on the shortage of locally refined sugar.

Bergsig Estate, in the Breedekloof, received the Novare Trophy for South Africa’s Top Wine Estate for the second consecutive year, as well as the Novare Trophy for South Africa’s Top Terroir Producer.

Suspended Director General (DG) of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Mike Mlengana, has said that the preliminary charges issued against him were a gross misrepresentation of the truth.

Silos were adding additional storage space to cope with the daily delivery of the local bumper maize crop.

An international research group has found that the number of extreme El Niño events will increase, even if global warming stabilises.

Agri business NWK realised an after-tax profit of R52 million for the year ended 30 April 2017, despite a disappointing year with markedly weaker agricultural results than previous years.

It is estimated that between 8% and 15% of South Africa’s macadamia crop is stolen from nut producers, according to Alex Whyte, sales and marketing manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East at Green Farms Nut Company (GFNC).

The African Farmer’s Association of South Africa (Afasa) in the Free State has resolved to continue fostering partnerships that will enable emerging farmers to go forward as commercial farmers.

Mequatling Smokin' Jo (WB 15 306), a Black Angus bull, was sold for R140 000, a new SA record for the breed, at the recent Mequatling Red and Black Angus 50th production auction in Clocolan in the Free State.

Zimbabwe’s bumper 2017 maize crop would not have a significant impact on South African maize exports to Africa. This was according to Luan van der Walt, Grain SA economist.

Rare Grill in Kenilworth, Johannesburg, was recently announced as the winner of the 2017 Wolftrap Steakhouse Championship.

Subsistence farmers’ traditional wheat trait selection, has, for the first time, been mapped against modern genome selection methods.

Questions have been raised about duty-free wheat imports expected this year, which reportedly will amount to between about R300 million to R400 million, following the signing of an economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) last year.

The first rights to explore for oil and gas have been approved in KwaZulu-Natal.

The number of farm attacks in the Free State has risen to 35. The latest attack took place on Friday between Theunissen and Winburg.