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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.

South African consumers to pay much more for garlic

For the foreseeable future, South African garlic lovers will have to accept dramatically increased prices for their favourite food flavouring until delays in international logistics are smoothed out.

Tobacco products remain off limits during lockdown – Cele

Western Cape premier, Alan Winde, has quashed rumours that he had lifted the ban on the sale of tobacco products in the province.

‘Shipboard livestock exports aim to advance new farmers’

A potential ban on livestock exports from South Africa by ship would hamstring efforts to grow the country’s developing animal production sector, and will also likely lead to an oversupply of red meat locally.

SARS expects hundreds of millions in tobacco lockdown losses

The government’s ban on the sale of legal tobacco products during the current national lockdown, which was put in place by Government as an urgent measure to slow down the spread of the coronavirus disease is South Africa, is likely to result in a dramatic spike in the illicit tobacco trade that reportedly already results in the South African fiscus losing over R8 billion a year in tax revenue.

‘Exchange rate rather than tariffs will affect chicken prices’

The ongoing decline of the rand against major international trading currencies is likely to affect local consumer prices of imported chicken even more than the recently announced tariff increases on imports for specific categories of this commodity.

‘Too early to see impact on illegal wildlife trade’

It is too early to speculate whether the suspected links between wildlife trade and consumption and the emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are resulting in any reductions in the illegal wildlife trade.

Land Claims Court comes down hard on state-paid lawyers

Private-sector attorneys and advocates who are paid by the state to assess the merits of land claims, and where necessary, pursue these cases in the Land Claims Court, have been warned to no longer institute legal proceedings where there are clearly no prospects of success.

Lower crude oil prices to affect SA sugar industry

The recent major decline in international crude oil prices is likely to have a significant impact on South Africa’s sugar value chain.

SA wildlife tourism hard-hit by coronavirus

The closing of countries’ borders in an attempt to contain the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is already greatly affecting the local ecotourism sector.

Understand cattle behaviour to achieve low-stress handling

Stress in cattle can cause these animals and their handlers numerous problems, and ultimately lose money for the cattle farming business. Dr Johan Cloete, a ruminant technical veterinarian with MSD Animal Health, says it is essential for handlers to understand cattle behaviour in order to achieve reduced stress.

Chicken import tariff supporters take wait-and-see approach

While the latest tariffs on imported frozen chicken published in the Government Gazette have been welcomed by key stakeholders in South Africa’s poultry value chain, they are taking a wait-and-see approach to establish just how effective these tariffs would be in achieving their intended purpose.

SA commercial pig herd now among ‘healthiest in the world’

With approximately 65% of South Africa’s commercial pig herd now officially registered with the South African Pork Producers’ Organisation’s (SAPPO) compartmentalisation system, the local commercial herd is now one of the healthiest in the world.

Farm and traditional land dwellers’ rights must be protected

Any amendments to Section 25 of South Africa’s Constitution needed to prioritise the protection of the land rights of farm dwellers and those living on traditional authority lands.

Another sugar mill shuts operations for the 2020/2021 season

Mere weeks after Tongaat Hulett Limited (THL) announced that it would be mothballing its Darnall Sugar Mill indefinitely, Illovo Sugar South Africa (ISSA) announced that it would be suspending operations at its Umzimkulu Sugar Mill, on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, for the 2020/2021 season starting on 1 April.