Global food demand and prices to decrease over next decade

The “Agricultural outlook 2017-2026” report, compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as well as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, forecasts that over the next decade,...

Co-ops the answer for smallholders?

One of the greatest frustrations farmers face in modern agricultural value chains is that they are, to a large extent, relegated to being price-takers.

The importance of data in agriculture

In May this year, The Economist ran a cover story that said that the world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.

Farming in Africa: bigger is not always better, studies show

Improving the efficiency of smallholder farmers in Africa is necessary not only to help grow African economies, but also to improve the livelihoods of these farmers and their families. However,...

Agriculture’s labour time bomb

Labour relations in the farming sector made headlines again these past few weeks after news broke of an unscrupulous labour broker operating from a farm in Wesselsbron in the Free...

How many harvests are left in your soil?

Not to take anything away from the remarkable way in which large-scale commercial agriculture has managed to improve production efficiencies (for the past two decades, yield growth has far outstripped...

Take a cue from Asia on successful land reform

Speaking at the AVI Africa Poultry conference, Christo van der Rheede, deputy executive officer at Agri SA, questioned government’s commitment to land reform. In particular, he criticised its protracted and...

Resolving agriculture’s transformation deadlock

James Martin, an independent agricultural transformation consultant and facilitator, says that transformation is a critical goal, but expecting power imbalances and prejudice to simply disappear is unreasonable. He believes that...

South Africa is slipping…

You would probably not be able to guess this if you met me today, but when I was at school and during my years at university, I spent as much...

What growing up on a farm taught me

I cannot imagine a greater childhood than growing up on a farm.

China’s love affair with wine, and how SA can benefit

Chinese consumers’ growing affinity for wine, particularly imports from international premium wine producers, presents a growth opportunity for the South African wine industry, according to research conducted by Buyambo Mantashe...

How to make use of long-term outlooks

These past weeks have seen the release of two of the most prominent decision-making tools for the farming sector: the local and global 10-year outlooks for the agricultural sector, published...

The three things black farmers need

There is something about the utter absurdity of watching President Jacob Zuma stand in front of an audience of honest, hard-working South Africans, saying things like, “Funds that are allocated...

Eighty-seven litres of water or less per day

On a recent visit to Cape Town, I experienced what Capetonians have been coming to grips with over the past few months: learning how to drastically curb daily water usage.

Let farmers handle transformation

In an article in this week's issue (28 July 2017) of Farmer's Weekly, former finance minister and current ANC MP, Pravin Gordhan, urges farmers to “make the first move” and...

Consumer trends are crucial for production decisions

Independent consumer researcher, Nadia van der Kolf, urges farmers to keep consumer trends in mind when planning production expansion.

Food label claims: true, misleading, or outright lies?

Consumers face a barrage of confusing, sometimes dubious, claims on food labels. This could end up harming consumer trust in the food value chain, and substantially damaging the industry and...

Digital disruption of the agri value chain

Since October 2016, half the world’s population has been connected to the Internet. However, at only 30%, the number of connected people in Africa is still lower than the world...