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Wrapping up 2019 and getting ready for 2020, industry leaders in the agriculture sector share some of their wishes for the new year with Farmer’s Weekly.

We have come to the end of a year, as well as the end of a decade, that seems to have tested South African farmers unlike any other.

The world’s drylands are becoming hotter and drier. Expanding commercial agriculture and investing in sustainable land management practices are two ways in which governmentscan mitigate this form of land degradation, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

While glanders is no longer present in South Africa, it is still found in other regions and can be brought back into the country through the importation of equines, says Dr Mac.

Farmers often ask for pest control programmes for their crops. They see them as a form of insurance. Is this justified? In a word, no!

Bhefika Matshenja of Inhlakanipho Projects and Farms, winner of the Star of Buhle Award for 2019, says that by implementing sound management principles, such as reinvesting profits, he has been able to see his business grow.

Group manager for assurance services at NWK, 34-year-old Jacqueline Mathews, maintains that South Africa’s agriculture sector needs tech-savvy, curious young people.

South African wheat producers should guard against over-application of fungicide, according to Dr Tarekegn Terefe, senior researcher at ARC-Small Grain, Bethlehem. The unnecessary use of fungicides can harm the environment and result in the emergence of fungicide-resistant strains. Farmers should also rotate between fungicides from different chemical groups, he writes.

One of the things I find most frustrating about politics is that what politicians say and promise can differ almost completely from what they do and deliver, yet there are zero consequences.

Consumers have become more informed and concerned about what goes into their food. One of the areas of concern has been the use of antibiotics in intensive farming systems such as poultry.

Warne and Wendy Rippon, owners of Buffalo Kloof Wildlife Safaris in the Eastern Cape, were concerned about the poverty in neighbouring Yendella community. So much so, that they launched an initiative where they and the community work together to benefit from the reserve.

Vergezocht Plant Oils is the first factory in Africa to produce cold-pressed, high-oleic sunflower oil. Sabrina Dean visited the plant in Bloemfontein in the Free State to find out more about Vergezocht’s business plan, which is built around using a niche sunflower cultivar to produce a high-demand product in a world moving towards healthier lifestyles.