Lloyd Phillips
Lloyd Phillips joined Farmer’s Weekly in January 2003 and is now a Senior Journalist with the publication. He spent most of his childhood on a Zululand sugarcane farm where he learned to speak fluent Zulu.
After matriculating in 1993, Lloyd dreamed of working as a nature conservationist. Life’s vagaries, however, had different plans for him and Lloyd ended up sampling various jobs in South African agriculture before becoming a proud member of the Farmer’s Weekly team.
Study finds Africa’s smallholders wary of fertiliser quality
Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are, on average, using fertilisers at well-below recommended rates in their crop production. This was according to the results of a study conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois (UoI) in the US, largely because these farmers perceived their locally available fertiliser products to be of sub-standard quality.
Al Mawashi planning early 2021 livestock exports by sea
Despite continuing to face legal actions aimed at achieving a permanent halt of shipboard livestock exports from South Africa, Kuwaiti company, Al Mawashi, has indicated that it is already planning another such shipment in the first quarter of 2021.
High Court’s rejection of tobacco ban ‘doesn’t undo damage’
Companies and industry organisations in South Africa’s legal tobacco value chain have welcomed the recent judgement of the Western Cape High Court that found that government’s five-month COVID-19-related ban on the legal sale of tobacco products was unconstitutional and, therefore, unlawful.
Political agendas alleged in Modise animal cruelty case
Progress in the private prosecution of Thandi Modise, speaker of Parliament, for alleged animal cruelty on her North West farm is reportedly being hindered by “political agendas”.
Top score for SA Wagyu x Angus carcass on Japanese scale
Members of South Africa’s five-year-old Wagyu South Africa beef cattle society have expressed excitement about the rare 15 marbling score recently achieved by a locally produced 490,4kg and DNA-verified Wagyu x Angus carcass.
Agriculture continues its positive contribution to GDP
South Africa’s farming sector continued its positive growth and contribution to national gross domestic product (GDP) during the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 2020).
SA agribusiness confidence shoots to six-year high
Although current sentiments for South Africa’s agriculture sector are generally positive, parts of the sector, such as the tobacco and wine value chains, are now feeling the financial aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated national and international lockdown restrictions.
Consumers must brace for stronger December meat prices
Cash-strapped South African consumers will have to dig deep into their pockets if they are looking to splurge on red meat and pork this December.
Compliance, enforcement needed to curb brucellosis in KZN
The dramatic increase in the recorded cases of brucellosis (Brucella abortus) in cattle in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) since 2019 is a reflection of many livestock owners’ lack of compliance with legislation, combined with government’s failure to enforce this legislation.
Applications flood in for state land leases – Didiza
At least 5 800 applications have been received from co-operatives and individuals to potentially lease a total of around 700 000ha of underutilised or vacant state-owned land for agricultural purposes.
‘Agriculture must take responsibility for water conservation’
With the lingering after-effects of a crippling drought, and the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan likely to kick in next year, it was time that all stakeholders in South African agriculture started taking responsibility for their role in protecting the country’s scarce freshwater resources. This was according to water conservation and water law experts, who were speaking during Nedbank’s webinar, ‘The future of water in South Africa’s agricultural sector’, held on Tuesday, 3 November.
Beat the heat! How to care for livestock in extreme weather
South Africa’s increasingly common heatwave conditions pose a major threat to the country’s farmed cattle, sheep and goats, which often feed and live outdoors. Lloyd Phillips spoke to a number of experts in the field about the negative effects of extremely high temperatures on livestock, and practical methods a farmer can use to mitigate these.
SA table grape crop estimate signals return to normal volumes
The South African Table Grape Industry’s (SATI) first crop estimate for the 2020/2021 season is signalling a return to normal production volumes, following mostly climate-related challenges in recent years.
Irrigation systems for undercover cropping
Maximising water-use efficiency in South African undercover crop farming operations has become both a financial and moral imperative. But selecting the most appropriate undercover irrigation technologies can be a challenge in itself. Three local experts shared their advice on this increasingly complex topic with Lloyd Phillips.
Proper planning: the key ingredient for quality stored fodder
To maximise kilograms of meat or wool produced per hectare, it is crucial to maintain a farm’s carrying capacity during winter. This invariably means producing high-quality stored fodder, and making sure there is enough of it. Deal Miles, a beef, mutton and wool farmer in the Cedarville area of the Eastern Cape, outlined his methods of achieving this to Lloyd Phillips.
More details needed on economic recovery plan – agri bodies
While organised agriculture bodies have welcomed many of the actions and goals set out in the economic restructure and recovery plan announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa this week, they want more details on how it will be effectively implemented.
Big diesel price drop brings input cost relief for farmers
As things stand, South Africa’s summer crop farmers who hope to benefit from the significant drop in the diesel price from midnight on Tuesday, 6 October, are unlikely to have their orders interrupted or delayed.
Farmers upbeat about spring rain despite low dam levels
The average level of many public and farm dams may currently be declining across much of South Africa’s summer rainfall region, but agriculture role players in these areas remain hopeful that forecasts for average to above-average rainfall during the 2020/2021 summer will replenish freshwater resources.
Flower industry struggling to recover from COVID-19 fallout
The production and marketing of South Africa’s cut flowers are struggling to recover from the negative impact of the COVID-19-related national and international lockdowns.
Over half of SA’s wastewater treatment works are failing
It is hoped that a recent High Court judgement will ensure that municipal wastewater treatment works cease polluting nearby freshwater and land resources.
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