South Africa

For the first time since the competition was initiated in 1834, a category for cream has been included in the South African Dairy Championships.

Current assessments put the damage suffered by table grape producers in the Olifants River production region following the heatwave experienced during December last year, at about 500 000 cartons of 4,5kg each.

Agri industry stakeholders have expressed confusion about whether the proposed drought charge recently announced by the City of Cape Town, would be levied on farms within the municipal limits.

Macadamia farmers in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal stand to gain from a major new export contract.

Tensions are reportedly running high in the Tarlton area in Gauteng, following the shooting of a farmworker on Saturday. The 43-year-old victim, whose identity has not yet been made public, had allegedly taken a tractor without the permission of the owner.

Johann Breytenbach, general manager for the Free State Umbrella Fire Protection Association, (FSUFPA) said that as yet, no one had been apprehended for starting a veld fire that destroyed nearly 70 000ha of grazing south of Boshof in the western Free State on 6 January.

There has been a spike in the number of malaria cases in Limpopo, with farmers reporting many cases of workers being affected.

Exchange rate fluctuation will continue to play a determining role in the cost of food products in coming months.

Rainfall remained erratic in December, with some parts of South Africa continuing to experience below-average rainfall while others received more than 200% of the monthly average.

The ANC’s resolution to amend Section 25 of the Constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation, taken in December, will lead to “economic suicide” for the country.

The 30th Commonwealth Agricultural Conference to be held in South Africa in 2022, will create an ideal platform to showcase the high standards of local agricultural, specifically the Western Cape, to the rest of the world, according to Johan Ehlers, CEO of Agri-Expo, organiser of the event.

Creating 500 000 jobs in agriculture by 2019 as government was promising to do, was not viable with current farming technologies, prevailing rainfall patterns in the Western Cape, or the current appetite for investment in agriculture.

The Limpopo IDC-Nguni Cattle Development Trust that was established to promote the production of this indigenous cattle breed in Limpopo is still functioning well, and a call for new applications will go out early in 2018, according to project manager, Cedric Mojapelo.

Renewable energy consortium, Lekela Power, has announced that commercial operations at its R7 billion wind farms, Loeriesfontein and Khobab Wind Farms, in the Northern Cape have commenced.

Free State farmer, Dan Kriek, was elected Agri SA’s new president during its congress in October. He spoke to Sabrina Dean about the association’s new strategy, and its vision to achieve ‘unity about agriculture’, a scenario in which all authorities agree on agriculture’s critical role.

It is anticipated that there will be further downward adjustments in the forecast for table grape production this season, due to delayed ripening and lower bunch weights reported in the Orange River region, according to the South African Table Grape Industry (SATI).

Sixty-four students received the Diploma in Agriculture: Mixed Agriculture from Potchefstroom College of Agriculture at a ceremony held earlier this month.

Farmers are frequently criticised for trying to remove illegal occupants from their land. This is often unfair, according to Peter de Wet, owner of Excelsior Wine Estate near Ashton in Langeberg. He spoke to Glenneis Kriel about his own experience of this issue, and his views on worker housing.

Government should put aside its concerns that speeding up land reform might deter potential and existing investors. Prioritising land reform, albeit in an “orderly manner”, was necessary to address imbalances in the country’s land ownership.

The agricultural sector will have to wait and see what the newly elected ANC President, Cyril Ramaphosa, will prioritise in terms of the sector, as he is obliged to implement ANC policy, especially land policy.