'Things and circumstances change, and if you are not able to adapt, you will be left behind'
- AC van Wyk, a farmer in the central Free State and the Grain SA Farmer of the Year 2017, on how vital it is for farmers to embrace technology (pg 23).
'Agricultural growth probably won't contract as a whole in 2023, but we won't see the growth witnessed in 2021 and 2022 […]'
- Dawie Maree, head of agriculture information and marketing at FNB, on the economic challenges that South Africa's agriculture sector faces this year (pg 16).
'Key markets that offer major potential for expanded access […] are the US, India, Vietnam, Thailand and Korea'
- Justin Chadwick, CEO of the Citrus Growers' Association of Southern Africa, on the need for South Africa to explore other markets (pg 21).
'Agricultural systems are being targeted because they have a real-world impact'
- Billy Petzer, researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, on why agriculture is becoming a bigger target of cybercrime (pg 20).
SA exports first 2 000t batch of cheese slices
In a first for South African dairy, Sundale Schreiber (Sundale) recently sent its first shipment of cheese to the Middle East from the Coega port in the Eastern Cape.
The export agreement relates to a total of 2 000t of cheese slices being exported to the Middle East over the next 15 months. According to Pierre van Rensburg, CEO of Sundale, monthly exports were set to reach these levels within the period of the initial agreement. At the time of inception, the Sundale plant had a capacity of 7 000t/ year. The plant already exported into the South African Development Community region, including Lesotho, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. Van Rensburg explained that the Middle East agreement was particularly significant as it opened global trade for the South African dairy industry outside of Africa.
The Sundale plant in East London was established in 2021, and it was hoped that it would be producing 25 000t/year by the final phase of the development project. The project is currently in phase one.
Dairy was the fourth-largest agricultural industry in South Africa, but this deregulated sector had to face international competition with no support in the form of subsidies or import tariffs. Despite overall milk production soaring 31% between 2009 and 2019, there had been a free-fall of farm closures. Farmers were squeezed by an intensely competitive, deregulated marketplace and worsening impacts of climate change-induced weather extremes. The impact of the industry now becoming exporters of dairy represented a levelling of the playing fields for dairy farmers.
The opening of new markets stimulated demand for dairy solids across the Eastern Cape, providing certainty and a route to market for many smaller concerns, according to Van Rensburg.
The dairy industry accounted for 26 000 jobs, many of which were in rural areas where sustainable job creation remained challenging. Sundale had already increased their staff complement to a total of 540 employees, an increase of 20% over two years. - Staff reporter
New system aims to measure animal welfare
Scientists at the University of Cambridge in England have come up with a system
