What does the new year hold for agriculture?
Farmer's Weekly
|Farmer's Weekly 5+12 January
Agriculture leaders and role players look back at 2023 and express their wishes for 2024.
Mixed bag of opportunities and challenges
Dawie Maree, head of information and marketing, FNB Business.
HOW DO YOU PERCEIVE THE AGRICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE PAST YEAR?
The agriculture sector was confronted with a mixed bag of opportunities and challenges in 2023. Overcoming early challenges due to load-shedding in especially the irrigation areas and too wet conditions in other areas, the country still had a good summer grain crop.
In spite of some logistical challenges, the citrus industry seemed to have recovered from the disastrous 2022 season and had a better-than-expected export year. Some vegetable producers fetched record prices for onions and potatoes, while others experienced losses due to the wet weather.
There are, however, some, such as macadamia producers, who are still experiencing a fall in demand in the global market, and more specifically China.
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