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Letter from the editor

Farmer’s Weekly celebrates 113 years on the land

As Farmer's Weekly celebrates its 113th anniversary, we reflect on our enduring commitment to providing accurate and reliable agricultural news. Our dedication to serving the farming community with excellence and integrity remains unwavering.

Why is the wheat price still relatively low?

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and while I was looking into the most recent developments on the Russia-Ukraine front, I read Newswise’s report on a new study, ‘Impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the global wheat market’, by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Texas Tech University, which focuses particularly on how the Russia-Ukraine war has impacted wheat trade.

A letter to our farmers and agriculturalists

Dear farmers and agriculturalists, we are yet again approaching the end of another year. It has been a difficult year for most of us: we have battled increasing inflation and interest rates, high fuel costs and unprecedented load-shedding.

Recognising the role of women in agriculture

After my grandfather was retrenched in his mid-50s, he used his pension payout to buy a farm in the Karoo near Uniondale, where he farmed ostriches, goats and sheep. He didn’t know much about farming when he began, and this was exacerbated with the outbreak of bird flu in the late 1990s, which led to the ban on ostrich meat exports.

Help us help you become a better farmer

In the 28 July issue of Farmer’s Weekly we focus particularly on equipment and technology that can help improve the production of smaller farmers.

Four issues that must be resolved now

As we enter the second month of the new year, and South Africa continues to be hit with stages four, five and six of load-shedding, I am reminded that 2024 is now only 11 months away, and there are many things that government must act on to ensure that 2023, 2024 and the years to come are successful ones for the agriculture sector.

Who is to blame for the increase in crime in SA?

In Parliament recently, DA leader John Steenhuisen asked how bad South Africa’s crime statistics needed to be before President Cyril Ramaphosa replaced Bheki Cele as minister of police.

A brief overview of the agricultural landscape in 2023

In the 6 & 13 January 2023 issue of Farmer's Weekly, we provide our readers with an outline of the agricultural landscape for the New Year, as well as analysts’ predictions in terms of upcoming local production seasons and commodity prices.

Farmers hold together the fabric of society

I have made no secret of the fact that I find the world’s treatment of farmers deplorable. This treatment of the people who produce our food and the fibre for our clothing, as well as employ vast swathes of the world’s population, is particularly egregious when it comes to governments.
cop27 climate change

COP27: a lot of hot air, with little action

The UN’s Conference of the Parties (COP27) ran from 6 to 18 November and was held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. On the agenda, as always, was climate change.

Welcome back to SA’s agri shows!

The year is certainly flying by at lightning speed, and it’s incredible that we are already entering the annual cycle of agricultural shows in South Africa.

How farming makes us better than we are

It has been almost 13 years since I wrote my first stories for Farmer’s Weekly as a freelance journalist, and now, as we start a new year, the time has come for me to start something new.

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