South Africa

International agribusiness, Syngenta recently opened a seed treatment facility at the company plant in Brits, North West, that will also be used for research purposes, to develop and test seed treatment technologies.

Although the good rains of the 2013/2014 summer season have made a significant contribution to what is expected to be a good year for grain farmers, the industry has, over the past decade, succeeded in taking the sting out of weather as a production factor, said Marthinus Loock, senior manager: Agribusiness for Standard Bank.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported a 1,6% drop in its Food Price Index (FPI) in April, compared to March this year.

Even unseasonal downpours failed to thwart the 2014 wine grape harvest.

Crimes on farms have been condemned by Free State Agriculture, after Dewetsdorp farmer Andrew Lehlohonolo and his wife Loryn Monokara were attacked on their farm Graigmont on Tuesday, 6 May.

The demand for meat products has grown rapidly during the past decade. The Bureau for Food and Agriculture Policy’s (BFAP) Coordinator: Industry Level Analysis Tracy Davids said this was due to growth in income and improved living standards.

Former minister of agriculture in the Western Cape, Cobus Dowry (67) died on Monday, 5 May, after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer.

The Tshwabac Pretoria Spring Show is going ahead, despite rumours doing the rounds that it had been canceled.

Family farming and agricultural investment will be the focus of a workshop taking place in Livingstone, Zambia, from 6 to 9 May.

The Free State Red Meat Producers’ Organisation (FS RPO) praised the Free State Stock Theft Unit of the SAPS after the recent arrest of five suspected stock thieves alleged to be members of a widespread stock theft syndicate.

The time has come for Sussex breeders to redefine the role of the Sussex in SA’s beef industry.

South Africa’s agriculture sector needs innovative, well-supported and well-coordinated research.

Long-serving ANC MP Salam Abram recently announced that he had quit the party.

Smallholder farmers occupy and cultivate only 10% of agricultural land worldwide, yet they produce up to 20% of the global food supply.

Genetic markers could be used in livestock farming to trace chromosome segments over generations, said molecular geneticist Dr Andre Eggen at the annual SA Stud Book International Breeding Symposium held in Bloemfontein recently

An eight-year-old boy was injured in a shooting accident on Monday, the last day of the HuntEx 2014 expo in Midrand, according to a statement released by the organisers of the event.

South Africa’s consumer inflation rate may surge to about 7% by the end of the year, and the repo rate – the rate at which the Reserve Bank lends money to commercial banks – might increase by up to a percentage point, excluding the 50 basis point increase in January.

According to recent media reports, 35 rhino owned by John Hume have died of a clostridial infection.

Water and Environmental Affairs minister Edna Molewa launched the R1,7 billion Pilanesberg Bulk Water Project in Ntswana-le-metsing outside Rustenburg earlier this week.

Land owners in the Free State have been asked to start preparing for the 2014 veld fire season.