Opinion

Local farmers seek to create sustainable business ventures out of agro-commodities, goods and services with other role players in the value chain. They are not mere landowners, according to Christo van der Rheede, deputy executive director at Agri SA.

Never before in the 21 years since South Africa’s transition to a democracy has the ruling party placed so much faith in the contribution that agriculture can make to the country.

The ‘Farmers Business Network’ enables members to share valuable information, says Greg Miles.

Free State Agriculture (FSA) is committed to ongoing engagement with government in order to build trust and remove racial stereotyping, according to its president, Dan Kriek. Addressing the recent 2015 FSA congress in Bloemfontein, he said commercial farmers believed in democratic values and supported change, but that policies such as land reform had to be orderly and efficient.

The agriculture department is insulting the many hardworking, successful and deserving female farmers in South Africa by saying that Hlengiwe Hlophe is the best commercial female farmer we have.

Better traceability secures more customers for food producers, says Greg Miles.

The king of the beasts may not survive the 21st century. Conflict with livestock owners in Africa, a growing demand in the Far East for large felid bones, shrinking habitat, poaching and unlawful hunting are all combining to narrow the odds for Panthera leo, one of the most revered animals on the planet, writes Dr Gerhard Verdoorn, South African hunter and conservationist.

The heartbreaking image of the lifeless Syrian toddler washed up on a Turkish beach has got many people looking at immigrants in a new light.

All over the world, techies are counting down the days to the 2016 launch of the Oculus Rift, a portable, user-friendly virtual reality (VR) headset that is expected to bring VR technology into the mainstream.

Louis Meintjies, president of TAU SA, draws a line in the sand on how far commercial farmers can be pushed, and calls on other farmers to join him in order to defeat this ‘psychological war’.

Getting advice from fellow farmers, agronomists and specialists in all areas of agriculture is never a bad thing.

Wildlife ranching SA’s target for game meat exports this year is 12 000t. This would generate at least R1,5 billion – a boost the industry could inject into SA’s struggling economy where it is needed most, the rural areas.

Margareet Visser of the Labour and Enterprise Research Group, UCT, and Stuart Ferrer, director of the Agricultural Policy Research Unit, UKZN, discuss producer-level collective bargaining.

This system allows you to feed and milk your cows at the touch of a button.

Dr Charlie Reinhardt, a botanist from the University of Pretoria, says the challenge of global food security can only be addressed with sound scientific research and development.

The South African economy has seen better days. First, the rand nose-dived to a record low of R14/US$, which put a damper on cuts to local fuel prices for September (see page 20).

Despite facing serious challenges, South African agriculture can nonetheless increase its competitiveness, both locally and internationally. Prof Gerald Ortmann, head of Agricultural Economics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, explores some of the options.

A new app from Skype enables real-time translation of foreign languages.

With profit margins remaining under pressure, farmers need to pull out all the stops to stay in business.

In the struggle to eradicate poverty and hunger, the most important factor is people, not money. Unless a country is willing to better itself, no donor institution will succeed in transforming it, says Kanayo F Nwanze, president of the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development.