Farming Basics

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.

Wim Scholtz, a 34-year-old farmer from the Vryburg district, has been nominated as the North West finalist for the 2007 Toyota Young Farmer of the Year competition. Wilma den Hartigh visited him on his farm to find out what has contributed to his success.

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

Trade liberalisation has resulted in huge market expansion for South African fruit. It has, however, also resulted in numerous new challenges for producers. Glenneis Erasmus reports.

Roelof Bezuidenhout talks to Hugo Lemon, textile technologist in Woolworths' menswear division, about the retailer's commitment to exchange new ideas with wool producers to enhance SA's industry

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

Jatropha is a hardy, high oil content crop with serious potential for biodiesel production in South Africa. But as it is classified as a noxious weed, large-scale cultivation has also raised environmental concerns. Chesney Bradshaw investigates the merits and drawbacks of jatropha as a possible employment driver that holds no threat to food security, as is the case with other biodiesel crops.
Issue Date: 30 March 2007

Despite the global wine glut, Kango Wines has substantially increased wine sales over the past few years by moving from bulk wine to premium wine production. In 2006 Kango's sales increased by over 18% on 2005.
Issue date:23 March 2007

Agritourism has grown substantially from 2% of the tourism industry in the Western Cape in 1996 to 10% of the foreign tourist market currently. For most farms, tourism contributes between 2% and 30% to farm income.
Issue date:23 March 2007

The South African dairy industry is currently in turmoil, with milk producers complaining of poor milk prices, milk buying companies being charged with anti-competitive activities, and retailers being accused of playing suppliers off against one another.
Issue date:23 March 2007

Farm evictions continue to divide opinion - agricultural unions argue evictions are either legal responses to changing business conditions or isolated unlawful acts, and land activists insist complaints of abuses keep flooding in. Stephan Hofstätter spoke to Peter Moatshe, chairperson of the parliament's select committee on land and environmental affairs, after he chaired a heated parliamentary debate on this issue.
Issue Date 16 March 2007

Poor profitability due to high input costs and low producer prices is having a devastating impact on South Africa's dairy industry, causing almost 30 producers to leave the industry per month. Producers are even slaughtering dairy cows, as meat has become more profitable than milk. However, a survey by David Beca, managing director of Red Sky, has shown that South Africa's dairy profitability compares favourably with that of New Zealand and Australia.
Issue Date 16 March 2007

Kerneels Pietersen, president of Agri Eastern Cape, talks to Roelof Bezuidenhout about the organisation's views on land reform and BEE, and his hopes for farming in the province.
Issue Date: 9 March 2007

Ever-mounting anxiety about global warming is sparking consumer concerns, particularly in the UK, that carbon dioxide emitted while transporting food over long distances can contribute significantly to global warming. Wilma den Hartigh talks to experts about concerns over 'food miles'.

Crop and beef farmer Neels Ferreira from Leandra in Mpumalanga wears many hats. He is not only Grain SA's chairperson, but is also vice-president and chairperson of Agri SA's commodity chamber. He talks to Peter Hittersay about current issues facing agriculture and farmers in South Africa. Issue Date: 23 February 2007

Surplus wine in global markets is squeezing the profitability of many South African wine farmers. It has been proposed that a derivative instrument should be introduced for the wine industry to help stabilise bulk wine prices and create transparency for all industry role-players. In principle this would be similar to the futures market on which SA grain farmers can trade to hedge price risks.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) should announce how it intends determining whether a farming business is characterised as large, medium or small for the purposes of AgriBEE by the end of the month

Issue Date: 2 February 2007

The dairy industry and various government departments are hoping to join forces to introduce a school milk ­progamme to improve the health and learning abilities of South Africa's children.