Farmers not to blame for land reform failures
The letter by Tshepo Diale refers (24 February, pg 8). Land reform is essential to South African agriculture and the vast majority of commercial farmers agree and support it.
Trees
One man, armed only with his own physical and moral resources, turned a wasteland into a paradise valley of forests, farms and neat villages.
Experiment with Allan’s methods
Thank you for the excellent feature on the Allan Savory course (4 May, pg 60). Why is it that ranchers and academics are so slow to embrace the ideas of...
More rage about the roads
The recent article ‘Bad roads threaten rural communities’ (4 May, pg 56) has elicited the following reader response.
Defending ultra high density grazing
I am not going to make excuses for my and Johann’s strong language towards the scientists of the establishment in our response to “stocking rates and Karooveld”, the report on...
Trip down memory lane
I was reading the Farmer’s Weekly of April 20 when I came across an item on your ‘Archive’ page entitled ‘Deafness in a horse’, written by PJA Lombard and published...
No help for people like us
I live in the Western Cape and would like to be seen as a small-scale cattle farmer. Yet I am a landless farmer known as a backyard or scatter farmer....
The brucellosis question
The issue of certain vaccinations being introduced into the South African market is a point of serious concern. This is an open letter with no commercial or vindictive approach towards...
Is competition law an unaffordable luxury?
In studying the symptoms of problems – such as high marketing costs, high physical losses, high transport costs – barriers to entry leads one to believe that the symptoms are...
Rhinos are not seahorses
I have spent most of my life involved in wildlife and have owned a number of game farms.
Investigation into suspect Mpumalanga land transaction ‘in full swing’
The investigation into the R36,48 million sale of a 414 hectare Mpumalanga Province farm is in full swing.
Stocking not fit for all conditions – holistic farming
The following are concerns: Has it become the norm to criticise respected people with words such as ‘pathetic’, ‘ridiculously’, ‘so-called scientists’ and ‘scientists are wasting time and money’?
The danger of fracking
The recent article ‘To frack or not to frack?’ (20 April, pg 46) is yet another ‘fraud’ committed by Shell Oil SA whereby it uses scientific spokespeople to argue the...
The life of a hardy cowgirl
The feature on Allie Gordon (27 April, pg 58)is an inspiring story of a woman who has returned to her roots to follow her heart and live her passion.
The issue of price volatility in the Maize Futures Market
The issue of how prices are "set" in the maize market has been a topical issue recently and it seems as if this has been for good reason.
Market structure analysis as an orientation for research in agricultural economics
In research projects involving market structure analysis big business are many times reluctant to cooperate because of the critical attitude of the researchers.
SA achieves ‘exceptional’ wheat yields
South Africa’s wheat farmers produced an exceptional 3,32 tons/ha average yield for the 2011 season. However, the country expects to import 1,48 million tons to meet the current 3,053 million...
Cut out the middleman?
Although the study of Traub & Jayne (2004) clearly shows the effect of market reform on milling/retail margins in South Africa, it has not clearly identified the reasons behind these...
Are they deaf and blind?
On 13 April, SAFM had a phone-in conversation discussing what people think will happen once Mugabe has gone.
