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It’s not all bad news. The weak currency is a mixed blessing for South Africa’s farmers.

Farmer’s Weekly business columnist Peter Hughes reflects on the state of South Africa and the world, and in doing so realises that there’s nowhere else on Earth he’d rather be.

Sugarcane farmer Brad O’Neill won the 2015 Nedbank Eston Show’s Farmer of the Year and Best Milling Cane award in the category 10 000t to 20 000t delivered in the 2014 season.

The advent of a new year has done little to lift our spirits. South Africans are worried about our lacklustre economy, student protests and unabated crime.

It is still a good time to invest in agriculture, said Ernst Janovksy, head of Absa Agribusiness, at the recent Alzu Hay Day near Middelburg.

Gugu Mlipha is the SA Agricultural Writers’ New Entrant to Commercial Farming for 2015. She farms vegetables on 6ha in Walkerville, Gauteng, and also runs a vegetable processing business. She has plans to further diversify her business.

The South African Apple & Pear Producers’ Organisation anticipates that this year’s pome fruit season is going to be a very challenging one for producers.

The new year has started in much the same way as 2015 ended – on a spectacular low, with the rand weakening to historic levels against major currencies, little relief from what is fast turning into a catastrophic drought, and the downgrade of South Africa’s credit rating to just one level above junk status.

National tractor and combine harvester sales for the 2015 calendar year were respectively 12,2% and 36,6% down on sales of the 2014 calendar year.

Eben Dönges primary school in Bothaville in the Free State has enlisted the support of the private agriculture sector in an innovative way, says Annelie Coleman.

Growing vegetables is highly competitive, demanding and arguably the most difficult branch of agriculture in which to succeed, especially for new entrants.

The Namibian Agricultural Union’s Production-Cost Index is a valuable tool for determining and monitoring price trends in the country’s livestock production industries, according to Jaco Hanekom, the union’s assistant manager of commodities. The index has lately shown an alarming negative price trend in cattle production.