Farmer's Weekly

Editor Janine Ryan, janiner@caxton.co.za News editor Julinda Schroeder, julindas@caxton.co.za Art director Louis Kruger Chief copy editor Paul Sulter Copy editors Fanie de Villiers and Jenna van der Walt Digital editor Sindira Chetty, sindirac@caxton

Decades ago, the South African table grape industry and its export trade were struggling due to a lack of suitable local cultivars. However, as this article revealed, the search was on for new and improved varieties. Eighty promising selections of ta

The big stories in the media at the end of May were focused on the potential global food crisis. The effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on the grains and oilseeds markets, along with India’s ban on the export of wheat, have added to the anxiety surrou

Making sense of developments in South Africa can be a very complicated and frustrating enterprise. Just in the past month, we have witnessed a wide range of mostly unrelated developments that defy a single theory on the country. They range from natur

The reopening of the Port of East London for maize exports after a decade was welcome news, according to Theo Boshoff, CEO of Agbiz. The port was brought back online in the first week of June following discussions between Transnet National Ports Auth

In its May 2022 estimates for the grain and oilseed sector, the Crop Estimates Committee lifted South Africa’s expected soya bean production by 2% to 1,93 million tons. This could possibly result in the largest soya bean harvest on record in the coun

The European Union’s Green Deal, aimed at making the region climateneutral by 2050, could seriously affect South Africa’s exports to the region. Paul Hardman, industry affairs manager at the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa (CGA), said

The ailing sugar industry has seen increasing producer prices, but rising input costs are eating away at any potential profit made by farmers. Wilscott Radley, who farms sugar near Malelane in Mpumalanga, said that the price of the commodity had rise

The Namibian crop production sector is underdeveloped and huge investments are required to increase production in that country. Nonetheless, the country has ample land available for crop production. This was according to Emilie Abraham, manager of ho

Coldiretti, the branch of the Italian Farmers’ Association located in the southern region of Puglia, has announced that farmers there may face a shortage of labour come summer. In a statement, Coldiretti said that Italy’s agriculture sector needed at

A farmer-led revolution in tree planting on farmland will propel Scotland as a world leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture, according to farming charity Soil Association. As part of a presentation to the Scottish parliament, agroecologic

The rising unemployment rate, surging inflation and dissatisfaction with government are resulting in an increase in riots, especially those that turn violent. Speaking at the recent Mpumalanga Agriculture annual congress held in White River, politica

While rising oil prices are eroding much of the profitability of increasing commodity prices, food producers are well positioned. This is despite the world’s current tumultuous economic state. Speaking at the recent Mpumalanga Agriculture annual cong

Wine sales have returned to prepandemic levels, with agritourism also picking up. According to South African Wine Industry Information and Systems, wine exports grew 28,9% to 411,1 million litres in 2021, with export value increasing by 12,9% to R10,

When farmers are asked what technology will have the greatest influence on their farming operations over the next decade, the majority focus on hardware such as drone technology, autonomous tractors and robotics. Data, however, will be the biggest in

Producers have to pay more attention to the labels of wine when selling heritage wines, said Dr Jonathan Steyn, researcher at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, during an Old Vine Project Workshop hosted near Stellenbosch. Dur

The South African Avocado Growers’ Association’s (SAAGA) emerging farmers programme in Venda, northern Limpopo, received a significant boost when 20 000 Maluma avocado seedlings were donated during the South African Subtropical Growers’ Association’s

Agri Gauteng has welcomed the announcement that an urban farm will be established in one of Johannesburg’s oldest suburbs, Bertrams, by next June. “Introducing urban farms to city dwellers is a wonderful idea and we’re fully behind it. However, it’s

A young mechanical engineer-turnedfarmer from KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has walked away victorious from the 2022 Firstwatch Entrepreneur’s Challenge. Siyabonga Ndlela (31), owner of the Ndlela Agri Group, came out ahead of 159 other participants, winning R

Over the past two years, global oilseed prices have increased dramatically. The situation in South Africa has been no different, with canola producers in the Western Cape benefitting from prices that have almost doubled over the past two years (see g

In a recent report, ‘Decarbonising the agricultural, forestry and land use sector in South Africa’, the National Business Initiative (NBI), a group of about 80 large local companies, including Anglo American and Sasol, recommend that South Africans s

The severe frost at the end of May 2022 is likely to continue through June and July, and sporadic frost might continue until September 2022 and even October 2022. There was thus a high risk of frost damage to winter wheat and early varieties of grape

Researchers are continually seeking new techniques to advance the production of cannabis. In this issue, I’ll discuss three new approaches: Grodan’s e-Gro system, nano-encapsulation and DNA sequencing. Monitoring a large cannabis cultivation facility

Over the past few years, consumers have begun to show greater interest in how their food is produced and manufactured. In line with this, software company GIANTS developed the virtual farm production game Farming Simulator in 2008, and the game has e

¾ cup white sugar3 Tbsp cornflour or potato flour ½ tsp ground cinnamon¼ tsp salt4 cups fresh blueberries400g sweet-dough pastry, store-bought or home-made1 Tbsp butter • Place the oven rack in the lowest position and preheat the oven to 190°C. • Com

Zibi has seen South Africa’s economy as a journalist, becoming editor of Business Day, and from within the corporate world, particularly as a spokesperson for a major bank. He has been increasingly dismayed by the waste of South Africa’s natural reso

In a study recently published in the journal Animals, 933 horse owners in Switzerland and France were surveyed to determine the prevalence of equine headshaking syndrome (EHS). The survey revealed that the average age of affected horses in France and

Dear Prof McCrindle, I watch the programme Follow the Food on BBC News and find it fascinating. It’s remarkable how farming has been adapted to cater for global warming, utilise water resources more effectively, and so forth. Modern technology is inc