News

The Competition Commission has launched a market inquiry into the poultry industry value chain to determine whether there are any market features that impede, restrict or distort competition.

With another potentially massive fuel price increase on the cards for the country in March, South Africa’s poor agricultural machinery sales may be set to continue into the year.

Fruit farmers in British Columbia in Canada are calling for government assistance to survive after entire crops of fruit such as peaches, plums, cherries and nectarines were wiped out.

Opening the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development’s (DALLRD) joint conference that was held recently at the ARC Roodeplaat, agriculture minister Thoko Didiza said that this event was celebrating and showcasing the innovative work of researchers at the ARC and government.

A shift from wheat quality to wheat yields in the approval of new varieties promises to increase yields by up to 5%, according to Corné Louw, senior economist at Grain SA.

World Pulses Day on 10 February is of particular importance this year as the food sector the world over seeks solutions to improve soil health and increase food security.

Eskom said on Sunday (4 February) that it had experienced a major network fault as gale-force winds and downpours caused extensive damaged to the Laingsburg/Touwsrivier 132kV power lines, affecting several Western Cape towns in the Central Karoo, Garden Route and Overberg regions.

Opposition parties and agricultural role players feel that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) was out of touch with reality and used as a tool to raise votes.

The Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor in the US has indicated that agricultural economists agree Brazil will remain the world’s top exporter of soya bean in the 2023/24 season.

Black rhinos in Kenya were on the brink of extinction three decades ago, but their numbers have since quadrupled from 240 in 1984 to 966 in 2024.

Labour costs are set to rise by 8,5% from 1 March 2024. The 3% above-inflation increase in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will see hourly rates jump from R25,42 to R27,58, prompting concern across labour-reliant industries about whether they will be able to maintain employment rates.

Despite the South African government acquiring 432 038ha of land in the Free State under various land reform redistribution programmes since 1994, at a cost of R1 881 billion to the tax payer, this land was not being used for commercial food production. This was according to Dr Roy Jankielsohn, the DA’s caucus leader in the Free State.

Logistics and problems emerged as the biggest issues that farmer organisations want addressed at this year’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), scheduled for 8 February.

Across Europe, tens of thousands of farmers have been coming out in force to air their grievances, ranging from the cost-of-living crisis to the EU’s sustainability policies, and the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war.

As the 2024 general election looms closer, and with a voter registration weekend scheduled for 3 and 4 February, the agriculture sector finds itself at a pivotal juncture, believing that the outcome of this year's election holds significant implications for the industry.

Fifteen months after Tongaat Hulett went into financial distress, its creditors have finally approved a business rescue plan.

The rate at which the world is changing seems to grow faster each year. This is particularly true for the agriculture sector, where technology, consumer demands and research culminate in a whole new playing field. What lies in store for agriculture this year? Lindi Botha looks at the top five trends that will influence the sector this year.

A Western Cape company recently announced that it had made a deal worth R300 million per year to supply chicken feet to China. The deal was apparently forged through a collaboration with Wesgro, the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape.

South African wine exports have continued its downward trend in volume, declining by 17% in 2023 to 306 million litres, according to a statement by Wines of South Africa (WOSA).

Some farming communities in California in the US have long been plagued by contaminated drinking water due to nitrates and other contaminants in the groundwater that feed wells in their communities.