Earlier this year, Dr Charl van der Merwe became manager of the Agbiz Grain desk. With nearly 30 years’ experience in grain handling, procurement, market analysis, and strategic development, he drives policy advocacy, stakeholder engagement, and industry representation.

While the South African livestock industry continues to struggle with foot-and-mouth disease, and considerable work is required to resolve it, other sub sectors are performing reasonably well.

Signal boosters are becoming essential in South African homes under the constant threat of load-shedding, while fibre broadband remains unreliable, expensive, and out of reach for most.