Farming Basics

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.

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