South Africa

On 22 February, Farmer’s Weekly reported that a farmers’ union in the Eastern Cape requested a government subsidy, as they could not afford to pay for a branding certificate to mark their animals.

It started in Europe. At the end of February, European retailer Ikea withdrew meatballs in 14 European countries after Czech Republic tests found traces of horse meat in a batch made in Sweden.

The previous summer’s drought in the eastern parts of Limpopo was said to be one of the worst since 1983.

The US Grains Council reported a record maize harvest of 355.3 million metric tons for the 2013/2014 season.

At the beginning of the year, the SA Poultry Association (Sapa) was disappointed with the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) decision not to impose definitive anti-dumping duties on cheap poultry imports from Brazil.

After the violent strikes in the Western Cape late last year, it was reported on 18 January that most permanent farm workers in that province had returned to work on 9 January, the day on which strikes had been expected to resume.

Minimum wages, drought, fires, disease, import tariffs and a meat labelling scandal.These were all issues on the agricultural agenda this year. Farmer’s Weekly news editor, Niel Saayman, compiled this overview of the year’s main news stories.

At the Elephant Summit held in Botswana in early December urgent measures were adopted to halt illegal ivory trade. But some conservationists are asking if these will be enough.

The Christmas Fair Fund, which was founded by a group of young farmers' wives in Stanger in 1952, recently held its 61st Christmas Country Fair at Collisheen Estate, near Ballito in KZN.

Isolated showers of rain have been reported in the drought-stricken areas of the North West, but the western parts of the province remain dry, according to Agri North West’s deputy CEO, Naude Pienaar.

Farmers in Mpumalanga are grateful for the widespread rain they have received in recent weeks. Agri Mpumalanga reported that all farming sectors were looking forward to a promising summer production season.

In the spirit of Christmas multinational agricultural company Monsanto handed over 700 cans of tinned food and 50 blankets to two welfare organisations on Thursday, 12 December, at River Place Country Estate near Pretoria.

Recently, Radobank brought together 50 farmers from 18 different countries and six continents in the Netherlands to discuss the future of farming. The participants identified the ‘6-S future of farming framework for food security’ – succession; sustainability; social enabling factors; supply chain; science; social media.

The Basislink online bidding system developed by Senwes and Grainlink came into operation on 11 December.

The western livestock producing areas of the Free State are still exceedingly dry.

The KwaZulu-Natal farming community is reeling from the murder of yet another of their own this year. Mohamed Engar (67), a grain farmer and miller in the Winterton area, became the 11th farmer to be murdered in the province during 2013.

The National Stock Theft Prevention Forum (NSTPF) has urged all role players within the livestock industry to co-operate in the prevention of stock theft by abiding by existing laws.

Based on information provided by Reserve Bank, AGFACTS has tracked the year-on-year agricultural machinery price changes from January 1996 to the present.

The wool market reached a record high at the final sale before the Christmas recess with the Merino indicator closing at R117,36/kg (clean).

Some 46 poisoned Cape griffon vultures have been found near to two sheep carcasses on a farm close to Molteno.