News

South Africa’s winter grain and oilseed producers face a tough road ahead, with the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy projecting weaker prices and tighter margins in the short term.

A new mining bill is expected to further ignore environmental concerns and allow unauthorised mining to take place on private property. This will place farmers’ livelihoods and food security at risk.

A national register of farmers receiving support through development programmes is needed to prevent ‘double dipping’ and ensure a wider group of farmers could access funds.

Participants in South Africa’s red meat value chain, from smallholder communal farmers to large-scale commercial operators, are being urged to participate in the new Red Meat Voice 2025 survey.

From 10 to 13 September 2025, Nampo Cape returns to Bredasdorp in the Western Cape, offering visitors a mix of farming innovation, livestock, and grain production.

The Mohair Empowerment Trust (MET) marked this year’s Women’s Month with a special graduation ceremony on 21 August, celebrating 14 women from Graaff-Reinet, Jansenville, and Aberdeen who successfully completed the trust’s Beginners Knitting Workshop.

Global wine consumption is at its lowest level since 1961, and last year South Africa recorded its smallest harvest in over two decades. The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy says adaptability, innovation, and differentiation will bolster the industry’s resilience.

The beef industry in Mexico was dealt a devastating blow when the US closed its border with the country in May 2025 due to a New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) outbreak in the latter.

South Africa’s Private Rhino Owners’ Association, whose members own most of the country’s white rhinos, has declined to comment on the John Hume case that has recently dominated headlines. It did, however, confirm that Hume was no longer a member.

Headline consumer inflation climbed to 3,5% in July, up from 3,0% the previous month. This was its highest rate since September 2024, when it was 3,8%, Statistics South Africa reported.

Compagniesdrift’s Makataan Chunks recently won the very first South African Preserve Product of the Year award, announced at Lanzerac in Stellenbosch, Western Cape, yesterday.

At Mosdene Boran Stud’s first production auction, held on Saturday, 9 August, at Silver Lakes Farm Hotel in Pretoria, Gauteng, Lot 10 (Odysseus E18-138), a Boran bull with a pedigree of legendary sires, sold for R2 million.

The livestock industry has been battered and bruised over the past few years as high feed costs, low consumer spending, and disease outbreaks have narrowed profits. Producers will, however, need to hold steady for at least another year before conditions are likely to improve.

Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen has called for South African National Defence Force chief General Rudzani Maphwanya to face a court martial after pledging his military and political support for Iran.

Local agriculture could overcome many of its challenges by taking a few practical steps, but only if stakeholders united and moved past political agendas and ideologies, agricultural leaders and analysts said at the recent 2025 Agri Western Cape Congress.

Despite an estimated increase of more than one million tons in sugar cane production this season, South Africa’s sugar industry faces mounting economic pressure that threatens to dampen the positive harvest outlook.

Grain prices are expected to decline over the next decade, squeezing profit margins for farmers even further as input prices continue to rise. Long-term sustainability will require a greater focus on technology that can provide productivity gains. South Africa’s hesitant reception to new breeding technologies (NBTs) will, however, hamper such gains.

On Thursday, the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) said in a statement it was “notifying the public and the entire farming community” that two new cases had been confirmed in Viljoenskroon, with a third case still possible, pending laboratory results.

With global and local economic growth stagnating, South Africa needs to ramp up investment to boost the economy. However, confidence is lacking, requiring intervention from government to provide an environment more conducive to investment.

Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen has warned that his department will closely monitor the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality’s compliance with a high court order to supply the Tshwane Market with municipal services.