Don’t tax interest income, says Absa

Farmers who use their own money to run their businesses and those who plan to retire on the proceeds of fixed deposits will surely back a suggestion from Absa's economic researchers that finance minister Trevor Manual should abolish taxes on income from interest.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

Look out for recycled stolen wools

Stolen wools are being recycled into the trade and individuals are knowingly or unknowingly buying these wools, according to the SA Wool and Mohair Buyers Association (SAWBA) in Port Elizabeth.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

Better demand for kid mohair continues

The third summer mohair sale of 2007 continued to deliver positive results for growers.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

Agri SA vows to act against pesticide mismanagement

Farmers' union Agri SA has pledged to act publicly against any farmers who are misusing pesticides or otherwise endangering neighbours through toxic pollution. The warning follows reports that widespread pesticide poisoning around Groblersdal, Mpumalanga may be responsible for teenage boys growing breasts, as well as increased incidents of cancer, miscarriages, ear infections and partial facial paralysis.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

Perspective-13 April 2007

Have you ever wondered at the flocks of hawk-like birds sitting on telephone wires and poles along some of the roads in the eastern parts of SA?
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

New export terminal

The Industrial Development Corporation and a consortium of private equity partners have concluded a financial package to build and operate a state-of-the-art fresh produce export terminal at Maputo port in Mozambique.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

AHS threatens SA horse exports again

The recent outbreak of African Horse Sickness (AHS) on an Arabian horse stud farm between Paarl and Franschoek in the Western Cape has once again resulted in a suspension of SA horse exports to the EU.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

Milk shortage yet another blow to dairy industry

The embattled dairy production industry is experiencing yet another blow following the Milk Producers' Organisation's (MPO's) announcement that the current shortage of milk products on retailers' shelves is likely to continue throughout winter.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

Maize estimate drops

The extremely isolated and well-below normal rainfall in South Africa's maize-producing areas have resulted in deteriorating growing conditions, and as a result the Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) has once again revised its forecast for the crop downwards for the 2006/07 season.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

NGOs applaud GMO rulings

Local and international watchdogs have heaped praise on the genetically modified organism (GMO) regulatory authority, the Executive Council (EC), for refusing to allow open field trials of GM cassava in the country and for rejecting an application by seed company Syngenta for the introduction of its GM maize variety 3272 into SA.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

Bid to declare FS fires a ‘disaster’

Farmers in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have joined forces in an effort to help their colleagues in the Free State who have lost thousands of hectares of grazing land to massive veld fires
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

TAU SA launches strategy document

TAU SA has launched a strategy for sustainable agriculture which it hopes will change the face of agriculture in SA.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

Top heads may roll in KZN agriculture

KwaZulu-Natal premier Sibusiso Ndebele has decided to press ahead with disciplinary action against Dr Jabulani Mjwara, head of department for the province's Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (DAEA), and Petrus Mahlangu, the DAEA's chief financial officer, following allegations of financial mismanagement within the department.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

‘Food miles’ an export challenge

UK supermarket chain Tesco's planned “carbon friendly” measures, such as the introduction of carbon-counting labelling and restrictions on airfreighted food stocks, has raised concerns about possible knock-on effects for the South African export industry.
Issue Date: 13 April 2007

Red-letter days: memory gateways to the past

When parts of a message are important, we highlight the letters in red and when a certain day is special we call it a red-letter day.
Issue Date: 30 March 2007

How to cure obsessive coffee disorder (OCD)

This is a story about love, loss and a magnificent obsession. It is not for the faint-hearted, nor those easily moved to tears. If you can handle it, read on: a couple of weeks ago my five-star, super-duper, hyper-magnificent Gaggia espresso machine blew its last fuse, melted its last gasket and went to its final resting place in the rubbish bin.
Issue Date: 30 March 2007

Treating windgalls

Around a joint or tendon is a capsule or sheath that produces synovial fluid, which acts as lubrication. If the capsule is damaged by percussion or overstretching, it produces extra synovial fluid. This then makes the capsule bulge. This bulge is called a windgall.
Issue Date: 30 March 2007

More on integrated pest management

A recent visit to a client has prompted another article on integrated pest management (IPM). This farmer has two vegetable farms separated by a few kilometres. He uses wasps to control leaf miner and Hawaiian web worm on beet.
Issue Date: 30 March 2007

Tommy van Zyl, small-team specialist

Tommy van Zyl is a self-employed building contractor who first engaged his passion for racing pigeons from a neat garden loft in the backyard of his Uitenhage home in the autumn of 1983.
Issue Date: 30 March 2007

Getting Doha back on track

Following the suspension of the Doha Development Round of the World Trade Organisation in July 2006, negotiations resumed this February. At a lecture at the University of Pretoria earlier this year, Xavier Carim, SA's chief negotiator at the WTO, emphasised the importance of agriculture in the talks. Wilma den Hartigh asked him about the issues under negotiation.
Issue Date: 30 March 2007

Caxton Magazines