A world without farmers
For many of my generation, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which is bringing everyday life to a grinding halt, will be one of the most enduring and disruptive experiences of...
SA is holding the rest of Africa back
While still considered by many foreign investors as the ‘gateway into Africa’, South Africa’s dismal economic performance has been a drag on the rest of the continent, which, in 2019,...
How much will you give to save SA?
For the last year or so, I have often thought about what occurred in South Korea in 1997 and 1998 when the country faced economic ruin due to the impact...
The real cost of progress
Over the past couple of decades, we have enjoyed plenty of benefits because of the progress made in farming. More people than ever before are now able to access sufficient...
The writing’s on the (Twitter) wall
If you had hoped to start the year off on a positive note by doing something good for your health and well-being, giving up social media for January might have...
Land reform: speak up now!
Two important pieces of draft legislation that will shape the way that land reform in South Africa will be implemented were published recently, and are currently open for public comment.
The secret to successful farming
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.
Time for government to do as it says
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...
Drought now a R1,3 billion disaster
The local agriculture sector has emerged over the past two decades as a major asset in what has become an otherwise ailing economy.
Poor governance worsens drought
I’m not a fan of apportioning blame where it isn’t well deserved. However, while the weather is (thankfully) not controlled by government, and we thus can’t blame it for the...
A turning point for tractor use in Africa
The latest tractor sales figures released by the South African Agricultural Machinery Association showed that year-to-date tractor sales were significantly down from last year, with the number of tractors sold...
What to do about farming job losses
All things considered, the farming sector in South Africa has not performed too poorly in terms of job losses since the turn of the century. According to Statistics South Africa,...
Blame ANC for big farmers’ success
There were two highlights at the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa’s (TAU SA) recent annual congress in Pretoria.
SA’s biggest land reform mistake
Perhaps the single biggest mistake South Africa has made with land reform since 1994 has been to entrust a government department with not only the transfer of land, but also...
Africa’s quiet, but fierce, agri revolution
The well-known saying that change happens slowly at first, and then all at once, is probably a misquote from Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises, which reads: “How...
Mboweni’s economic plan says all the right things
Independent power producers, an independent water regulator, formalisation of the taxi industry, and hints about a state-subsidised agricultural insurance scheme are just some of the suggestions put forward by National...
Stealing wool off the sheep’s back
Last year, Coldiretti, Italy’s largest agriculture industry association, released a statement announcing that in 2017, Italian organised crime generated a turnover of €21,8 billion (about R370 billion) from agriculture.
Climate change: let farmers lead the way
As details about South Africa’s economic mess becomes clearer, and government fails to respond with any clear plan to navigate the country out of debt, many conversations inevitably turn to...
Big food waste while people go hungry
South Africa’s food poverty line, also known as the extreme poverty line, which refers to the amount of money that an individual will need to afford the minimum required daily...
Getting South Africa ‘unstuck’ on land
Feeling stuck in life is awful. It is demoralising, makes you unproductive, leaves you feeling gloomy about the future, and the longer you remain stuck the more difficult it becomes...
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