Business
Farmer's Weekly
BUSHMEAT HUNTING: a threat to wildlife
While popular in many African countries, bushmeat hunting and consumption is a major threat to many large species of wildlife in protected areas, write Julia van Velden et al. However, there is a solution to this problem, which requires partnership between government and communities.
3 min |
August 14, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
New Developments In Post-Harvest Technology
Improvements in post-harvest technology have not only helped improve pack-out percentages for fresh produce growers, thus increasing profitability, but also resulted in less food waste. TOMRA, which specialises in post-harvest solutions, has debuted a number of new technologies this year
2 min |
August 07, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Why Africa's Food Supply Needs A Regional Approach
By disrupting international supply chains, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered much debate about the need for deglobalization. This presents an ideal opportunity for Africa to explore the regionalization of agribusiness on the continent, writes Louis van Ravesteyn, head of Agri-Business Pan Africa within the Personal and Business Banking division at Standard Bank Group.
4 min |
August 07, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Canola: The Crop That Requires Perfect Planning
Melt van der Westhuizen of Moorreesburg holds the South African record for the highest canola yield ever produced. He spoke to Glenneis Kriel about his production methods.
6 min |
August 07, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Planning For Precision Irrigation
Precision irrigation requires a system designed with all your resources and production goals in mind, with the aim of ensuring optimal production.
5 min |
August 07, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Sweet potato and roasted peanut soup
Affordable and delicious, this soup will provide a hearty meal on a cold winter’s evening while delighting your taste buds. Anita Cilliers, who submitted the recipe, says the only extra it needs to be served with is a generous slice of your favourite bread.
1 min |
August 07, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
TRACEABILITY: BEYOND THE TAG
Any farmer who thinks that a tag in the ear represents a traceability system for a beef herd is far off the mark; it simply links the animal to a production unit. A farm or feedlot should have good management practices across the entire production system, writes Dr. Danie Odendaal, a veterinary herd health consultant and director of Veterinarian Network
6 min |
August 07, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Stokvel concept offers hope to young farmers
Brought together through necessity by severe and ongoing drought, a group of farmers from Kuruman, Northern Cape, established an unusual stokvel in 2016 to assist each other with the sharing of resources. Thapelo Kgopodithate, the founder of the Makawana Farmers’ Stokvel initiative, spoke to Siyanda Sishuba about the group’s achievements.
4 min |
August 07, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Overberg farmers unite to conserve Renosterveld
Farmers in the Overberg wheat belt are working together to conserve one of the planet’s most threatened habitats. In return, they are getting much-needed veld-management support, writes Dr.Odette Curtis-Scott, director of the Overberg Renosterveld Conservation Trust.
4 min |
August 07, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
No one locks this agripreneur down!
Lengau Mothiane has just signed on another 10 employees to handle the workload at his farmer support services business, Horizon Southern Group. Sabrina Dean spoke to him about his journey.
3 min |
August 07, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Aardvarks Suffer In Extended Drought
It is not only livestock that are threatened during multi-year droughts; wildlife, too, can succumb to the stress. Dr Nora Weyer and other researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand have found that aardvarks’ feeding in the daytime during extended drought may be a sign that they are starving.
3 min |
July 31, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Record-Breaking, High-Altitude Ngunis
On 9 May 2020, the Biggs family, who farms in the Eastern Cape, sold a Nguni herd sire for a world-record price of R310 000. Clive Biggs spoke to Mike Burgess about the family’s well-adapted Nandi Nguni stud in the foothills of the Drakensberg near Cedarville.
6 min |
July 24, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Healthy Food Is Becoming Increasingly Unaffordable
The latest edition of the ‘State of food security and nutrition in the world’ has found that the number of people affected by hunger globally has been slowly on the rise since 2014. The report, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, estimates that almost 690 million people went hungry in 2019, an increase of almost 10% over the past five years. The high costs and low affordability of healthy and nutritious diets also continue to contribute to the malnutrition of billions of people.
5 min |
July 31, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Wine Farmers To Fight Ban In Court
Government’s recent decision to reinstate the ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages is expected to bring an already struggling wine industry to its knees, with some farmers feeling that not enough has been done by representative bodies to protect them. Jeandré van der Walt reports.
3 min |
July 31, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
How A Community Is Keeping Hope Alive
The drought of the past eight years has transformed the Sutherland district into an austere and desolated landscape, almost lunar-like in its bleakness. Despite the devastation, the community here has decided to do all it can to survive, and help others survive, until the rain comes again. Annelie Coleman reports.
5 min |
July 31, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
The Importance Of Maintaining Reproductive Health In A Herd
Fourth-generation farmer Gerhard Grobler says he has been able to achieve better results from his beef cattle herd after introducing crossbreeding. But, he adds, South Africa’s beef producers need to start managing animal health more proactively. Pieter Dempsey reports.
5 min |
July 31, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Adapt To The Covid-19 World, Or Die
COVID-19 has not only cost lives and livelihoods; it has changed consumer behaviour and buying patterns. To protect their businesses, farmers need to adapt to new market realities.
2 min |
July 31, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Small-Scale Success With Olives In Gauteng
Olive farming in South Africa tends to be concentrated in a few regions in the Western Cape and Northern Cape where conditions are ideal for this fruit. But in the early 2000s, Gauteng-based Hettie du Toit and her late husband, Frans, frustrated with the ongoing theft of their vegetables, decided to give olives a go on their plot. Pieter Dempsey reports
4 min |
July 17, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Achieving Employment-Intensive Land Reform In SA
A new study suggests that significant increases in the employment intensity of agriculture can be achieved if land, situated specifically in four local municipalities, is redistributed to smallscale farmers. According to Ben Cousins, emeritus professor at the University of the Western Cape’s Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, by focusing on specific types of farming in these four areas, almost 24 000 job could be created.
4 min |
July 24, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Plans to revive SA's groundnut industry
Due to drought and a lack of new cultivars, the country’s groundnut industry is in a precarious position. North West producer Lourens de Kock and Adri Botha, chairperson of the South African Groundnut Forum, spoke to Annelie Coleman about what needs to be done to turn the tide.
5 min |
July 31, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
The many benefits of good tyre traction
Hennie Hattingh is responsible for original equipment sales at the Johannesburg branch of a major Southern African tyre and tube distributor. Stehan Cloete spoke to him about the effect of tyre pressure and tractor ballasting on fuel efficiency and productivity.
3 min |
July 31, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Sweet thorn encroachment in the Eastern Cape
A number of woody encroacher species are expanding both their distribution and density in the Eastern Cape. Sweet thorn (Vachellia karroo), the most common of these, detrimentally affects the quality of grazing in the province, writes independent agricultural consultant Dr Louis du Pisani.
6 min |
July 31, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Beefmasters produce heavy weaners despite drought
Coenraad Viljoen, who ran the Josephus Beefmaster Stud on Sunny Slopes near East London, said that strict selection criteria had paid off in the long run.
5 min |
July 31, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Insect Farm's Plans For Sustainable Protein
Insect farming, which is increasingly regarded as a sustainable alternative source of protein, has emerged as one of the fastest-growing agricultural industries. Dr Michael Woods, co-founder and CEO of Susento, spoke to Jeandré van der Walt about the advantages of insect farming and his goal of producing a high-quality protein sports drink from fly larvae.
5 min |
July 24, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
The Master Architect Of The Highveld
Dutch architect Sytze Wierda left a unique and timeless legacy across the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek before the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902).
3 min |
July 17, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Rapid Spread Of Invasive Species
According to researchers at the Centre for Invasion Biology at Stellenbosch University (SU), a total of 1422 alien species are currently naturalised or invasive in South Africa. Much more action is needed to counter the increasing threats posed by invasive alien species in the country, warns Wiida Fourie-Basson, science writer in the SU Faculty of Sciences.
3 min |
July 24, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
New Harvesting Solution For Premium Red Wine Grapes
New Holland’s new Braud 8030L CombiGrape offers an effective and user-friendly destemming and grapesorting solution to suit the needs of medium-sized vineyards.
2 min |
July 24, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Varied Tech Solutions Required For Small-Scale Farming
The dual nature of South Africa’s agricultural landscape precludes a one-size-fits-all approach to technology solutions. Small-scale farmers have limited budgets and challenges that cannot be solved without taking their distinctive circumstances into account.
6 min |
July 24, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
Social Media Takes Farmer From Part-Time To Full-Time Tonota
When establishing a new business, investors often struggle with what to focus on first: the market or the product. Pork farmer Hannes Richards had little difficulty with this decision. A single advertisement on social media triggered such demand for his product that he had to expand his operation as rapidly as possible. Lindi Botha visited him on his farm in Limpopo.from part-time to full-time
6 min |
July 24, 2020
Farmer's Weekly
EU's Proposed Food Labelling Bad News For Farmers
Key proposals in the European Commission’s new Farm to Fork strategy include enhancing protection for consumers and the environment. However, according to Roberto Moncalvo, vice-president of the Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations in the EU, the strategy may have negative consequences for farmers as well as consumers, as it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to produce a host of wholesome traditional foods that are the backbone of many farming regions.
5 min |