Caxton Magazines

"The time has come for us to devise a system to make agriculture internationally competitive, as it is done all over the world," says National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) chairperson Ntombi Msimang in an address to the Grain SA congress. "If we don't want to use the word subsidy let's devise a new word from Sotho or Zulu.

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The current location differential system for wheat and maize will be retained, since its removal might significantly hurt farmers by reducing their ability to obtain input finance. This was decided at the 2009 Grain SA congress. Former Grain SA chairperson and a current delegate from Viljoenskroon Japie Grobler recommended the system be maintained and accepted as a working system.

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In world terms South Africa is the 11th highest emitter of greenhouse gas. Population and gross domestic product place us higher. At the recent Climate Change Summit between 3 and 6 March, government and various other bodies shared their views on what needs to be done to reduce the effects of climate change. Glenneis Erasmus and Sharon Götte report.

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A project to produce 90 million litres of bioethanol from sugar beet cultivated in the Cradock area of the Eastern Cape has been granted final approval and will proceed. The project looks set to be the first large-scale bioethanol venture in the country and partners are hopeful that the plant will be constructed in 18 months.

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Sugarcane ethanol will pour out of the US0 million (R4,1 billion) Dombe Ethanol Project in Mozambique within three years. Billed as the largest biofuel project in Africa, and one of the largest in the world, Dombe was initiated by Geneva-based biofuel development company Principle Energy Limited (PEL).

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Grain SA is satisfied with the process of determining compensation so far for damages from three Monsanto maize cultivars which failed to pollinate properly. At the Grain SA 2009 congress Monsanto's regional director for South Africa Kobus Lindeque announced farmers will be compensated for losses.

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The 2004 Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act does imply the expropriation of old-order mineral rights, and therefore holders of the old-order rights may approach the court for compensation. So ruled the Pretoria High Court in an interlocutory hearing, in the matter of Agri SA and other holders of mineral rights versus the minister of minerals and energy Buyelwa Sonjica.

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Government had run out of money for its land reform programme two months before the end of the financial year said land and agriculture minister Lulama Xingwana, who blamed white farmers for inflating prices.

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Even tripartite alliance partners have accused land and agriculture minister Lulama Xingwana of cheap politicking for threatening to take away land from land reform beneficiaries not farming productively in a "use it or lose it" policy.

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This mini-sprayer is effective for the smaller scale control of weeds, plant diseases and plant pests in complete spraying or row application. Lloyd Phillips writes.
Issue date: 13 March 2009

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During play of a hole, the ball farthest from the hole must be played first.

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My husband and I bought a farm in the Karoo, but it doesn't have a house on it. There's a lot of natural stone on the farm so we would like to build a stone house, either with a tin roof or fibre-cement tiles.

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God has shown me so many times, in my life as a farmer, impossible situations turn around through prayer and faith and become quite normal. I think farmers need more faith to farm in this age then they did 100 years ago. Things are getting so critical and the margin of error is so great, without faith in God it can't be done.
Issue date: 13 March 2009

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I take it all back, Mr Weatherman - you've got it right for once! Rain, glorious rain! The dreaded word "drought", which was whispered in every conversation around here since Christmas, has been consigned to memory. The skies are still black, thunder rumbles, promising even more rain.
Issue date: 13 March 2009

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Her life was short - She was only two hours old when the big zebra stallion bit and kicked her to death. She was a little newborn blesbok fawn and when I found her broken little body in the grass, I'd had enough.
Issue date: 13 March 2009

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There comes a time in the life of all braai mechanics when their hearts and minds cry out for something just a little bit more interesting than a boerewors roll. It's at times like these I hear the call and respond to culinary anguish by publishing blueprints - this is no mere recipe - for the greatest steak roll of all time. Don't let the status of this grand experience overwhelm you. With only a little care and great focus and dedication to good food you too can make this massive contribution to civilisation in the comfort of your own kitchen.
Issue date: 13 March 2009

In the late 1970s, Ongeluksnek Valley near Matatiele in the Eastern Cape slipped into productive obscurity, after its commercial farmers faced compensated removal by the nationalist government to increase the size of the former Transkei. Mike Burgess visited Ongeluksnek recently, to see how former resident Vivian Haviside and emerging farmers have joined forces to restore the area to its former productive glory, despite serious challenges.

The Tracking Key takes the guesswork out of tracking people and possessions. Chris Nel writes.
Issue date : 13 March 2009

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Farmers like to be given a programme for virtually everything, but the truth is this isn't practical. Soil composition is a variable, as is the amount of rain.
Issue date : 13 March 2009

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'Getting hot under the collar, bemoaning the poor quality of many government officers, wringing your hands about the lack of integrity and honesty of many politicians, all amounts to being distracted by the warthog. Forget it! Keep your eye on the buffalo.'
Issue date : 13 March 2009

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