South Africa

Mandela Day on 18 July has become synonymous with the expression of humanity through charitable acts.

A small number of technical amendments to the British Hunting Act have been suggested to more closely align legislation in England and Wales with that in Scotland, according to a press release by the UK government.

Contentious issues pertaining to land will continue to dog the agriculture industry over the next five years, according to political analyst Justice Malala.

The weekend of 10-12 July saw separate farm attacks on two elderly couples living in the Free State and Eastern Cape respectively. Although assaulted by their attackers, all four victims survived the attacks.

This past weekend, Castle de Wildt hosted the 4th annual Prestige Golden Breeders Game Auction, where a golden wildebeest bull sold for R2,85 million.

The Agri Securitas Trust Fund has allocated additional funds to fight crime in the farming communities of Senekal in the Free State as well as Steytlerville and Witkop near Burgersdorp in the Eastern Cape, according to a statement from the trust.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between Nestlé South Africa, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Eastern Cape provincial government that may see 800 permanent and seasonal jobs created by 2019, according to a DTI press release.

In what could be a first for South Africa, a cycad poacher was recently sentenced to an effective 10 years in jail by an Eastern Cape court.

The demand for high-quality naturally-produced beef was on the increase globally and the implementation of a traceability system would enable local red meat producers to gain from the expanding markets, according to Prof Frikkie Neser, animal scientist at the University of the Free State.

The 2014/2015 Senwes financial results showed that agricultural companies had to do business in a volatile environment characterised by two contrasting agricultural cycles.

This year alone 27 farm murders and 116 attacks had taken place by the end of June 2015, said Chris van Zyl, assistant head manager of TAU SA, according to a joint press statement by AfriForum and TAU SA.

The Val Farmers Day sponsored by Afgri took place on 1 July at the Val show grounds in the Standerton district. Companies including Omnia, Pannar, John Deere and Toyota exhibited their products and services.

South Africa’s soya bean crop for the 2015 season was likely to reach one million tons. This was 7% higher than the previous estimate for this season and about 5% up from the 2014 harvest of 948 000 tons.

Steak enthusiasts will have to make their way to South Africa’s East Coast to taste the best beef cuts in South Africa after Little Havana in Umhlanga Rocks, KwaZulu-Natal dethroned two-time winner, The Local Grill in Parktown, Johannesburg, to become the best steakhouse in the country.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has partnered with the Dutch government to drive the transformation of agricultural colleges into agricultural training institutes.

Following a three-week-long operation in mountainous terrain and through a number of river valleys, a lion that escaped from the Karoo National Park (KNP) has finally been recaptured safely.

Farmers had little time to celebrate the National Energy Regulator (Nersa’s) decision to reject Eskom’s tariff increase application after the Department of Energy (DoE) announced today (30 June 2015) that diesel prices and all other fuel prices were set to increase at midnight.

A new short course launched by the North-West University (NWU) will provide local and international students training in proven local conservation methods.

Livestock farmers in the Free State were asked to remain alert this weekend because of expected strong winds, isolated showers and cold to very cold conditions over the central parts of the province, forecast by SA Weather Service.

The SA poultry industry is out-performing the rest of the economy with growth of 3,3% per year, according to Dr Azar Jammine, an economist at Econometrix.