South Africa

Consumers need a better understanding of agriculture and the work done by farmers and workers, it was said at the launch of this year’s Bien Donné Agri Cape Week. Denene Erasmus reports.

The grain industry has experienced a tough five months, with the national transport strike depressing tonnages milled.

Abalone farming in South Africa, which first started in the 1990s, is expected to increase fivefold within the next decade.

Despite its high quality, SA’s wool clip is becoming the most heavily contaminated by foreign objects in the world, according to Isak Staats, BKB’s manager of wool and mohair.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), importers and re-workers of poultry and local producers recently held a meeting to further discuss the practice of brining in the poultry industry.

Consumers need a better understanding of agriculture for them to fully appreciate farmers.

he South African grain production market is increasingly becoming more sophisticated and that will eventually lead to the phasing out of the Safex transport differential, said Grain SA Maize Working Group vice-chairperson Chris Schoonwinkel.

Dr Gerhard Verdoorn, head of the Griffon Poison Information Centre, said that the recent outbreak of African army worm was the worst experienced in 20 years.

The Constitutional Court today dismissed an appeal against an eviction order, against the children of a retired worker living on a Stellenbosch farm.

A lack of criteria for being granted exemption from paying the new minimum wage has left farmers with little hope of finding a solution to the wage crisis.

The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) might soon be the subject of a forensic audit after officials were unable to fully account to parliament for tractors and other agricultural equipment distributed to provincial departments as part of the government’s mechanisation programme.

Detectives of the Harding SAPS and members of the Kokstad Cluster Task Team in KwaZulu-Natal arrested three men suspected of robbing a farm in the area in January.

Dairy processor Clover’s revenue increased by 10,8% for the six months ended 31 December 2012, compared to the same period the previous year, to R3,98 billion rand.

The wine industry welcomed concessions made in excise duty hikes, as announced by finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, in the national budget.

The minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti, wants to have the drafting of the Land Reform White Paper finalised by May 2013.

Three South African farmers in the Republic of Congo have been suspended from operations, pending disciplinary hearings.

The horse meat scandal that erupted in Europe in January appears to be the tip of the iceberg for South Africans who have been consuming everything from donkey to water buffalo while under the impression that it was beef.

Confidence levels in the agricultural business sector increased in the fourth quarter of 2012, and has been on an overall upward trend since hitting an all-time low in 2009.

South African maize producers are sceptical about the National Crop Estimates Committee’s (CEC) latest maize harvest approximation of 12,35 million tons.

About 900 farmers have asked the labour department to be exempted from paying their workers the new minimum wage of R105/day, Minister Mildred Oliphant said according to the South African Press Association.