The government has lost out on more than R1bn in VAT from drought-stricken farmers who were forced to cut production after their irrigation water from the Cape supply dams was radically reduced a year ago.

The national Crop Estimate Committee kept its estimate for South Africa’s wheat crop unchanged from last month at 1.86 million tonnes.

Of the 64 countries globally which have embarked on land reform, 17 had restitution programmes in place and only 11 have claimed to be successful, says Dr Theo de Jager, president of the World Farmers Association.

Thundershowers over the central parts on Friday may become severe with strong winds and a possibility of hail. Strong southeasterlies are expected over the southwestern coastal areas.

The continual prosperity of the macadamia industry has led to a rapid increase in orchards with the industry adding around 2 000 additional hectares each year.

As an organisation established in 1949 by concerned hunters to safeguard RSA’s wildlife legacy after massive declines in wildlife, SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SA Hunters) is concerned and shocked about the apparent irresponsible hunting incidents covered in the media in recent weeks.

At this year’s annual Subtrop marketing symposium for the subtropical fruit industry, speakers made reference to the consistent growth in global demand for, in particular, avocados, but cautioned that continuous promotion and consumer education campaigns were an essential part of maintaining this growth.

A recently published research paper by agricultural economists Jan Greyling and Philip Pardey in the Agrekon Journal brings home some key points about South Africa’s maize production in terms of commercial and smallholder share contribution. This is timely given the current debates about transformation in South Africa’s agricultural sector, with questions about the progress of smallholder black farmers arising.

A new study from Stanford University suggests that the kind of hot, dry conditions that can shrink crop yields, destabilize food prices and lay the groundwork for devastating wildfires are increasingly striking multiple regions simultaneously as a result of a warming climate.

South Africa’s stonefruit season is now well underway for most fruit categories, with good market conditions expected in Europe over the coming weeks.

Efforts to preserve nature are way off what is required, and a “global deal” in the mould of the Paris climate agreement is needed to bring it back from the brink, a report has warned. 

New-vehicle sales in November declined by 4.6%, to 47 486 units, compared with the same month last year.

As the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in Shanghai this last week comes to an end, attention turns to the South African beef industry, one of the clear winners of increased favourable relations between China and South Africa.

A recently published research paper by agricultural economists Jan Greyling and Philip Pardey in the Agrek

Gross domestic product rose by an annualized 2.2 percent in the three months through September compared with a revised 0.4 percent contraction in the prior quarter, Statistics South Africa said Tuesday in the capital, Pretoria. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for growth of 1.9 percent.

An amendment to the constitution to make it clear that expropriation without compensation can be used as a means to address skewed land ownership patterns is a step closer to being a done deal.

After entering a technical recession in the second quarter of the year, the South African agricultural economy recovered in the third quarter, boosted by higher production of horticulture and animal products.

In rural Mecosta County, Mich., sits a near-windowless facility with a footprint about the size of Buckingham Palace. It’s just one of Nestlé’s roughly 100 bottled water factories in 34 countries around the world.

Dawie Roodt, chief economist at the Efficient Group, believes that there is little reason to be optimistic now that South Africa is no longer in a technical recession.

The scientific dispute between the EU and the South African citrus industry has again resulted in stalemate as the latter’s three proposals to manage citrus black spot (CBS) in a more financially and environmentally sustainable manner were summarily rejected.