News

Grain SA chairperson Derek Mathews has welcomed the appointment of Dr Tobias Doyer as chief executive officer of the organisation, describing him as the ideal choice.

The recent suspension of Irish beef exports to China has been described as a blow to the industry. Ireland’s national public service media organisation, RTÉ, reported that beef exports from Ireland to China had been suspended after a case of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was detected in a cow.

The agriculture sector in South Africa continues to show its strength creating 61 000 new jobs in the third quarter of 2023.

Namibian livestock producers called on that country’s government to seriously consider the creation of two Meatco entities that would service producers north and south of Namibia’s veterinary cordon fence (VCF) as two independent subsidiaries.

Various articles were published in the media over the past week that made it sound as if government had published “new rules” in the Government Gazette that would force farmers to meet black economic empowerment (BEE) requirements to continue exports to Europe.

The latest export inspection data in the US indicates that wheat shipments from that country reached a 52-year low in the first week of November.

In spite of the limiting impact of the ever-decreasing national vineyard surface area, isolated cases of frost and extensive flood damage in some regions, the wine industry is optimistic about the new season’s potential, according to Rico Basson, CEO of South African Wine.

Zambia remains one of the main exporters of maize in Africa, following sustained output of the country’s staple food in recent years spurred by input subsidies, despite some climate change effects, invasion of pests, erratic rains, post-harvest losses and frustrated production in recent years.

Sheep farmers are at their wits end as damage caused by warthogs is threatening their livelihoods.

The South African Poultry Association (SA Poultry) recently voiced its concern over a suggested temporary rebate provision on broiler meat.

Free State Agriculture (FSA), in collaboration with LGV’s PSiRA-registered Private Stock Theft Investigators, has retrieved more than a million rands’ worth of livestock since FSA announced its Private Livestock Theft Investigators initiative four months ago. Fourteen arrests in six cases of stock theft followed.

More than 600 KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) cannabis and hemp farmers were granted permits to cultivate, store and transport the product with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content of not more than 0,2%.

The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) brought little good news when it was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday.

The cause of elephant deaths in Zimbabwe and Botswana in 2020 has been revealed by scientists. The detection and presence Bisgaard taxon 45, an unnamed close relative of Pasteurella multocida in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, which covers Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola, Zambia and Namibia, was of great concern.

The South African Weather Service (Weather SA) has advised farmers to keep their animals safe from the bitter cold, wet and windy conditions that started on Saturday and are expected to last until Wednesday in parts of the Eastern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Limpopo and Northern Cape.

There are indications of a notable reduction in milk production on UK farms, with low farm-gate prices putting pressure on margins at a time of the year when production normally increases.

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development does not have funds to compensate farmers for their losses as a result of the deadly avian influenza outbreak across South Africa, according to the department's chief director Dipepeneneng Serage, who was responding to questions posed by the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development this week.

Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) continues to sweep through South Africa, with the latest wave annihilating colonies in Gauteng.

Whereas inflation is slowing in many countries, the depreciation of the rand, high fuel costs and load-shedding are keeping it high in South Africa.

In a historic moment, the Nguni bull, T16 232, was recently sold for a world-record price of R570 000 at the Sentrale Nguni Club’s 29th auction held on the farm Middelwater near Bloemfontein.