Staff Reporter

The following guidelines and recommendations for cattle breeding seasons are applicable to a summer rainfall region and should be adapted accordingly for a winter rainfall region.

The latest edition of the ‘State of food security and nutrition in the world’ has found that the number of people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014. The report, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, estimates that almost 690 million people went hungry in 2019, an increase of almost 10% over the past five years. The high costs and low affordability of healthy and nutritious diets also continue to contribute to the malnutrition of billions of people.

Tongaat Hulett’s ailing fortunes in recent years appear to be on a trajectory of recovery, judging by its recently released interim financial results for the first half-year ended 30 September 2020 (H1 2020).

Wheat is an important grain crop in South Africa, ranking second after maize in terms of area planted and production. This article explores the structure and growth of the wheat plant.

Sharing their report on the latest iteration of the Expropriation Bill (B23-2020), Free State Agriculture (FSA) held a media conference on 11 December, highlighting their concerns should the Bill succeed in Parliament.

Earthworms play a crucial role in improving soil quality, and every farmer should try to maintain a healthy population of these remarkable creatures.

Traditional meets modern in this easy-to-make meal. A roasted leg of lamb meets a boozy ice cream bombe to really ignite the jolliness of the season.

By disrupting international supply chains, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered much debate about the need for deglobalisation. This presents an ideal opportunity for Africa to explore the regionalisation of agribusiness on the continent, writes Louis van Ravesteyn, head of Agri Business Pan Africa within the Personal and Business Banking division at Standard Bank Group.

Very high levels of water stress or very high drought frequency affect about 1,2 billion people living in agricultural areas globally.

Precision irrigation requires a system designed with all your resources and production goals in mind, with the aim of ensuring optimal production.

While the increase in diesel prices would usually be felt by grain farmers in the process of planting, good rain has allowed farmers in the central and western parts of the country to plant earlier, helping them stave off the effects of the recent diesel price increase.

In order to lower production costs and become more efficient, farmers need to track and keep records of their animals. This is where the Farm4Trade app comes in.

It is not only livestock that are threatened during multi-year droughts; wildlife, too, can succumb to the stress. Dr Nora Weyer and other researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand have found that aardvarks’ feeding in the daytime during extended drought may be a sign that they are starving.

Standard Bank and UN Women are actively working towards equipping women farmers to grow their businesses and become long-term successful producers.

Diplodia ear rot is a notable maize disease in South Africa. Apart from causing severe damage to the crop, it can also produce a potentially fatal mycotoxicosis in cattle and sheep. It is therefore crucial that a maize producer be able to identify the disease, says Dr Belinda Janse van Rensburg, plant pathologist at the Agricultural Research Council’s Grain Crops Institute.

Hennie Hattingh is responsible for original equipment sales at the Johannesburg branch of a major Southern African tyre and tube distributor. Stehan Cloete spoke to him about the effect of tyre pressure and tractor ballasting on fuel efficiency and productivity.

The Cannabis Vexpo is a first of its kind in Africa, and brings together business people and stakeholders in the cannabis industry.

As part of an animal’s stress response, its body releases cortisol, a hormone that provides energy to help the animal escape the stressor. If the stress persists, however, the animal’s health will suffer.

Demand for nuts is set to continue growing strongly worldwide, but this does not mean the industry can grow complacent about improving production efficiencies. This is the opinion of Axel Breuer, CEO of AgroPress, which publishes The Clipper, an international magazine dealing with nut and dried fruit production and processing.

The South African irrigation and manufacturing company Agrico recently introduced a new GPS controller that offers users of its web-based irrigation control system a new solution for running pivots in a more energy-efficient way, thanks to better pressure control.