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Deon Theron, vice president of the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) in Zimbabwe, was in Johannesburg for the recent emergency Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit. Rudi Massyn was there and caught up with him to discuss the neglect of commercial farmers in Zimbabwe.

Jannie Mouton, investment maverick and CEO of Zeder Investment, started investing in agribusinesses in the early 1990s, when IT technology was all the buzz. Amidst much scepticism, Zeder is today established on the investment portfolio map, turning old co-ops profitable by investing in agribusinesses such as KWV and Kaap Agri.

Markets are business, and globalisation is opening up markets to agribusiness. This is one of many reasons why Dr John Purchase is excited to be the new CEO of the Agricultural Business Chamber (ABC). As former CEO of Grain SA, he also understands the synergistic relationship of farmers and agribusinesses. Susan Botes found out more about his vision for ABC.

The five-year process of drafting the AgriBEE Charter is nearing completion and it could be finalised and gazetted in the next three months. Wilma den Hartigh asked Tobias Doyer, CEO of the Agricultural Business Chamber, to clarify a few uncertainties about BEE in agriculture and explain how farmers can make it work for them.

Between 2004 and 2005, agriculture's real output grew at 4,1%, although employed labour was down by 10,9%. The National Productivity Institute (NPI) wants to develop a culture of productivity, and plans 39 turnaround solutions for 2007, impacting on more than 9 000 jobs. NPI's corporate services executive Bongani Coka spoke to Cornelia du Plooy

Maize farmers hope to sell their surpluses to the biofuel industry. A study has shown SA's maize belt in North West and the Free State is an ideal location for biofuel plants, because it provides a secure feedstock supply in the vicinity of feedlots and fuel refineries.

The debate around whether global warming exists is well and truly over, says Dr Stephanie Midgley, a leading scientist in the field of climate change at the University of Stellenbosch. Her most recent research shows that climate change is already having a significant effect on agriculture in the Western Cape - the SA region that scientists predict will be hardest hit by rising temperatures and decreasing rainfall. Anneliese King reports.

Seven months after taking over as head of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), Dr Shadrack Moephuli, chief executive officer, has many plans for the council, its shareholders and the country's farming community. Farmer's Weekly put to him some of the questions many have been longing to ask. Cornelia du Plooy reports.

Like many other South African agricultural products, tobacco had to overcome huge difficulties when thrown into the free market. The tobacco industry devised a solution to ensure its survival, but under the new system, tobacco farmers seem to have lost the control they had over their product and the profits they shared from processing it. Alita van der Walt takes a closer look at this controversial industry.

The Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) recently announced its June 2007 to 2012 baseline for SA's ­agricultural sector. The baseline is not a forecast, but rather a benchmark of what could happen to commodities under a particular set of policies and demographic assumptions over a five-year period. Wilma den Hartigh reports.

We're streets behind New Zealand and Australia when it comes to marketing our agricultural produce, says Mohammad Karaan (right), chairperson of the National Agricultural Marketing Council, and government should take responsibility for this.

Should agriculture in South Africa be concerned about its image? And what can be done to rectify the “bad image” it has in certain quarters? Alita van der Walt speaks to Prof JD ­Froneman (right) of the School of ­Communication Studies at North-West ­University in Potchefstroom. Issue date 15 June 2007