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.
How technology is creating better jobs in agriculture
Increased use of technology and automation in agriculture carries with it the risk that certain farm jobs will become redundant. However, according to a new report published by the World...
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...
Grain hedging: lessons from the farmers who get it right
Since South African agriculture converted from control boards to the free market system in the 1990s, farmers have had to learn how to contend with extreme volatility on commodity markets....
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...
Consider the environment when expanding your farm
Obtaining environmental authorisation with the help of technical consultants prior to expanding farming operations on virgin soil will help farmers avoid prosecution that could lead to hefty fines or even...
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...
A new old broom for agriculture
I was left with two overwhelming impressions after reading through Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza’s Budget Vote speech for the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development that was delivered...
‘Green’ livestock production: the facts and the fictions
Global livestock production is increasingly under attack from certain societal groupings who claim that the sector is causing unnecessary environmental harm. Dr Jude Capper, of UK-based Livestock Sustainability Consultancy, explains...
Low prices: a plague for farmers
If I had to draw a single conclusion from the ‘Agricultural Outlook: 2019 to 2028’ published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the...
How to turn Africa’s food fortunes around
Should African countries fail to increase food production and processing to become at least partly self-sufficient, it will be one of the greatest missed opportunities of the century.
SA agri training needs drastic digital overhaul
Digital technologies and innovations have the potential to revolutionise the world’s food systems. This is why agricultural education and training, particularly in South Africa, needs to be revisited as a...
Commercial farmers’ vital role in rural development
Largely failed land reform initiatives are leading to increased tension and uncertainty in the agriculture sector as a whole. Veteran rural development expert Jimmy Lonsdale believes commercial farmers have a...
Cannabis industry is in need of legislation
Almost two years have passed since Farmer’s Weekly first published an article exploring the potential to establish a legal farming industry in South Africa for the production of medicinal cannabis.
SA’s sugar industry is in a meltdown
It would not be fair to say that the dramatic unravelling of Tongaat Hulett these past weeks was caused solely by the larger crisis facing South Africa’s sugar industry.
On the verge of success: SA’s ‘municipal farmers’
A new class of emerging farmer working the land on municipal commonages have similarities to the ‘kulaks’, the highly productive, early 20th century entrepreneurial Russian farmers drawn from the peasantry....
Our sorry, calloused souls
Any person who has endured tragedy will know that bewildering feeling that settles in soon after the traumatic event when you realise that for other people, and the world around...
A better agri trade deal for Africa
The Agribusiness Africa Conference will be hosted by Farmer’s Weekly for the third time this year in Johannesburg on 10 July.
Bees the victims of irresponsible pesticide use
Honeybees are the world’s best-known pollinators of natural flora and a vast array of food and fibre crops. Yet they are frequently harmed by human activities, writes CropLife South Africa’s...
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