Opinion

“South African agriculture is a healthy, vibrant industry, and will remain so if we only keep the politicians and politics out of the business.

During a recent parliamentary debate on the National Development Plan, IFP leader and founder Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi criticised the government over its eagerness to draw up plans for development that are unlikely to be implemented.

Compliance with transformation and ethical codes in agriculture has become a very costly exercise – but it appears that consumers and, especially, retailers are increasingly supporting compliant producers. Phil Bowes, transformation manager for the South African Table Grape Industry, explains how this is playing out for the fruit sector.

What the hell were officials from Mpumalanga’s department of agriculture thinking when they left Drakensberger stud animals at its research facility near Ermelo without food and water?

Many a successful businessperson or professional is turning to farming these days. Veteran agricultural journalist George Nicholas thinks he knows why.

The Free State is in mourning. We’re all grieving about the nearly 185 000ha that’s been destroyed by veld fires in the province so far this season.

South Africa is unable to conduct proper tests for glyphosphate residues on food – and until this capacity exists, glyphosate should not be allowed in food production, says Mariam Mayet, director of the African Centre for Biosafety.

In this open letter to Minister Gugile Nkwinti, farmer Gideon Morule argues that government land policy aimed at blacks is as oppressive as apartheid laws.

All property ownership will be affected if property rights protection is removed from the Constitution, says Temba Nolutshungu, a director of the Free Market Foundation.

To invest or not to invest... The jackal was really let loose following Agri SA vice-president Theo de Jager’s recent remarks about farmers investing in agriculture. Or, rather, not investing.

Ant Muirhead, a 72-year-old Winterton, KwaZulu-Natal farmer says farmers should use no-till on their lands in order to farm sustainably – immediately.

The chicken import dispute between Brazil and South Africa is unlikely to upset newly formed geo-political alliances – for now, says Saliem Fakir, independent writer for the South African Civil Society Information Service.

I seldom, if ever, agree with a politician, but I’m willing to make an exception when it comes to police minister Nathi Mthethhwa’s recent statement during a visit to Diepsloot that crime in South Africa is as big a monster as apartheid was.

Government does not understand agriculture. This is clear in its obsession with implementing short-sighted policies that focus on detail and unnecessarily complicate farming. Lindi van Rooyen looks at examples of how small tweaks in agricultural policies in countries abroad have helped those nations flourish.

The National Democratic Revolution (NDR) has long been put forward as a way for the ANC to fix the ills of the past and ensure a more equal society. But Dr Anthea Jeffery, specialist research consultant at the SA Institute for Race Relations, argues that full implementation of the NDR will undermine the Constitution and betray the bright hopes of the 1994 transition.

Feeding the growing world population is a major challenge – yet far from impossible. At the recent Agricultural Business Chamber’s Congress in KwaZulu-Natal, Brazilian market strategist Prof Marcos Fava Neves of the University of São Paulo released a book outlining solutions to the problem.

The land reform process is going nowhere slowly with more unresolved land claims gazetted now than ever before. Dr Theo de Jager, deputy president of Agri SA, details the destruction that an inadequate system has caused and what is needed to fix it.

Government’s flagship job creation programme funds a number of labour-intensive programmes which benefit agriculture, such as the removal of alien plants and the patching up of rural roads. But the workers themselves benefit the least, says social commentator Glenn Ashton.

Oh my word, we South Africans are apparently a sad lot. Even sadder than Zimbabweans.

With Greece on the brink of ditching the euro and financial markets on the edge due to uncertainty, Jaco Visser looks at two possible scenarios that could play themselves out.