Property rates not a once-off negotiation

Negotiations with some municipalities to apply the Municipal Property Rates Act according to draft guidelines published by the Department of Provincial Affairs and Local Government, have been successful in some provinces. In others, however, unbalance

SA cheese conquers world championships

Simonsberg’s low-fat cream cheese was named Best of Class in its category at the 2008 World Championship Cheese Contest held recently in Wisconsin in the US.
Issue date: 11 April 2008

No deal for SeaArk

The legitimacy of a recent SeaArk Africa business deal has been questioned by the same company with which they are said to have clinched the deal. Earlier this year SeaArk Africa said it had signed an agreement with a major Saudi Arabian marine company t

SA’s latest blueprint for land reform

Government has released yet another land plan. Unlike its failed predecessors, the Land and Agrarian Reform Project (LARP) takes a more practical approach to speeding up land reform with the intention of maintaining productivity by insisting on cooperativ

Doubt that Aussie wool boycott will push up prices

South African wool buyers Doubt the banning of Australian wool by some European companies, because of mulesing, will have an effect on the wool market, as China buys up nearly 70% of Australia’s wool clip.
Issue date: 11 April 2008

Experts say biofuel and food shouldn’t be in competition

This year’s African Biofuel Conference saw a continuation of the debate around biofuel’s influence on food security and food inflation.
Issue date: 11 April 2008

Gwanya lays down land law

The Newly appointed Land Affairs director general, Thozamile Gwanya, cracked the whip at his first meeting with senior managers, held last month to outline his plans to achieve ambitious land-reform targets.
Issue date: 11 April 2008

Weather promotes African horse sickness

The hot and humid conditions experienced this year in many of SA’s summer rainfall areas have been ideal for the explosion of populations of the Culicoides imicola and Culicoides bolitinos midge species that transmit African horse sickness (AHS).
Is

Chicken, peanut and lentil breyani

The classic breyani is one of Indiaï¿½s major contributions to the culinary culture of the universe.
Issue date: 04 April 2008

Beefing up Jerseys with Simmentalers

While the Jersey breed produces star dairy cows, its bull calves are dead weight commercially. Pierre Laesecke, 2007 Western Cape Master Dairy Farmer bronze medallist, crossed his Jersey females with Simmentaler bulls, also known as Fleckviehs in other

Jogging is a bad habit

A horse that jogs instead of walks or trots is annoying and makes your ride uncomfortable. And jogging is actually a behavioural problem.
Issue date: 04 April 2008

Expect higher but volatile prices

Farmers can expect higher prices for most products during 2008/09 but will have to guard against high volatility.
Issue date: 04 April 2008

Wildlife ranching enters the digital era

The energy crisis and changing entertainment trends will keep travellers at home, but this need not mean the end of the world for the wildlife industry, says controversial ecologist Ben Breedlove. He told Roelof Bezuidenhout how ranchers can cash in on

Symbols of peace

There are many symbols of peace, but most of them such as the inverted crows-foot of the anti-nuclear movement have negative connotations associated with them. In 1949 Pablo Picasso designed a lithograph of a white dove as an emblem for the International

Wool: Donï¿½t be scared of going finer

The results of a study on two Merino studs in the Karoo clear up many of the mysteries surrounding selection programmes for fine wool. Roelof Bezuidenhout reports.
Issue date: 04 April 2008

Lawnmowing on an industrial scale

Falcon Agricultural Equipment, based in Howick, has a reputation for developing unique machines to meet specific customer needs. Their latest implement is a finishing mower designed especially for the high-speed cutting of sports grounds, golf courses,

Beating worm infestation in communal goat farming

A project in Bergville, KZN, is teaching communal goat farmers to fight wireworm by early detection of worm infestation, culling to improve herd resilience and using low-cost remedies like copper oxide to obtain better production, improved fertility

Pecans minimise ostrich risk

Foresight led Basie Strydom, from the farm Klein Doornrivier in the Klein Karoo, to diversify his farming enterprise from ostriches and Angora goats to pecan nut production. Glenneis Erasmus spoke to him about the years of working on a plan that has provi

Capabilities of provincial Land Affairs need attention

Anthony Evans, who chairs the Rhys Evans Group, a large agribusiness based at Viljoenskroon, Free State, describes his attempts to launch a land reform project in his area, and how he kept running into a bureaucratic wall. This, he says, despite the agric

Limpopo farmers strike a winning tax deal

The new Municipal Property Rates Act has been a bone of contention between farmers and municipalities. Now, after a year and a half of negotiations, farmers and the Lephalale municipal council in Limpopo have drafted a policy document on the way taxes

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