NW MEC joins farmers in the crime battle

Crime in North West will be dealt a double blow with a strategy developed by the Lichtenburg farming community and the West Department of Transport, Roads and Community Safety.
Issue date : 01 August 2008

‘No GM potatoes yet!’ PSA protests

Potatoes South Africa (PSA) has indicated it will appeal against the application by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) in which the council asks for permission to release a GMO potato, SpuntaG2, onto the market on a commercial scale.
Issue date : 01 August 2008

Treasury takes over Land Bank

The finance and agriculture ministry issued a terse joint statement on 14 July that the Land Bank would be transferred from the agriculture department to Treasury with immediate effect.
01 August 2008

Time to recognise agriculture’s role

Government must recognise and support agriculture's important role in the economy.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Relationships are key

Professor James Blignaut of Pretoria University's economics department says the focus in agriculture should be on building relationships. He warns that roleplayers must reform relationships or struggle towards certain defeat. Roelof Bezuidenhout summarised this extract published in FarmAfrica.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Farmers & workers call Mununzwu home

Owned by the Henning family from 1912, expropriated into the Venda homeland in the 1980s and now awaiting the settlement of land claims, Mununzwu Estates has been part of SA's complex dynamic between land and race relations. N ow, the Hennings have undertaken a housing project to accommodate all those who call Mununzwu home, writes Peter Mashala.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Game farmers take aim at bowhunters

With a substantial backlog in the renewal of existing firearms licences, the SA Police Service (SAPS) is taking up to two years to process applications
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Breeding Brahmans: Build only on the best

Neil Haines of Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal is one of the top Brahman breeders in South Africa. Wayne Southwood visited him to find out how he managed such success in a relatively short period of time.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Canegrowers wrestle with production challenges

The South African Cane Growers' Association (Canegrowers) recently held its 2008 annual general meeting. Like many sectors in agriculture, producers are wrestling with high input costs, fluctuating prices based on international demand and local problems such as land reform. Jayne Ferguson, communications manager for CANEGROWERS, wrote this review of the 2007/08 season.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Adapting to agricultural disaster

When in late 2006, cadmium contaminated the historical pineapple fields of the Eastern Cape, it left pineapple farmers struggling to find alternative ways to generate income. Mike Burgess reports on how one farmer in the Bathurst district has adapted to the fallout.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Going beyond food miles

Exporters who cater for the UK know the importance of food miles to British consumers. But trade minister Sir Digby Jones says these measures may not be enough to satisfy UK shoppers. Alan Harman reports.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Tyre feeders: a hazard to livestock

Cattle feeding from deteriorating steel-belt tyres can ingest wires with their feed, causing hardware disease and potentially fatal infections. Alan Harman reports.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Endangered Wildlife Trust group wins Kudu award

At the recent, prestigious Kudu Awards ceremony, the Endangered Wildlife Trust's Conservation Leadership Group (CLG) was recognised for its outstanding work in capacity building and environmental education, and its contribution to conservation in rural communities.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Farmers to benefit from CPIX reshuffle

SA's consumer price inflation basket (CPIX) is being reshuffled with new weights coming into effect from 2009.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Malting barley finally linked to Safex

SABMiller has finally agreed to adapt their malting barley pricing structure by linking the price to the wheat Safex price.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Limpopo farmers share their economic reality

While farmers are forced to absorb the impact of soaring fuel and other input costs as well as platteland crime, politicians and labour unions are still quick to blame farmers for high food prices.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

Fur flies at GMO round table

Biotechnology may hold the key to sustainable crop production in the face of global warming, Prof MelanÃ© Vivier from the University of Stellenbosch's Institute of Wine Biotechnology told delegates at a recent Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) round table in Cape Town.
Issue date : 18 July 2008

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