AgribusinessThe National Agricultural Marketing Council says South Africa's agricultural industry trusts, which fund research, transformation and farmer development, grew by R154 million to R2.76 billion in 2024/25, with the Maize Trust adding the most.
CropsLaunching the 2026/27 Multi-Planting Season in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal's agriculture MEC warned that El Nino could bring below-normal rain and heat to the province's maize, dry bean and soya areas, and promised early warnings and soil-tested fertiliser for smallholders.
At Agbiz's annual information session in Pretoria, its economists explained how the Employment Services Amendment Bill would tighten rules on hiring foreign workers and raise penalties for employers, while trade data showed farm exports up 10 percent.
Two South African animal scientists explain how viable sperm can be taken from the epididymis of an elite bull after death, frozen and used later for artificial insemination or IVF, if the testes reach a lab quickly.
Eastern Cape farmer Palesa Sotshongaye saved her NSFAS stipend for three years, started with spinach, cabbage and chickens, and now supplies schools and two supermarket chains in Qumbu.
At the Royal Show, farmers Tom Turner and Andrew Morphew said producers must keep expanding to survive while milk buys ever less diesel, and only the top fifth of one study group beat bank returns.
At an FNB panel in KwaZulu-Natal, Kwanalu reported financial literacy among trained entrepreneurs rising from 25% to 58%, and a livestock farmer told how weaner deliveries paid for his farm.
OrganicAgricultural Writers SA's !Xhariep regional awards honoured an organic vegetable grower who began with five tilapia, a citrus enterprise built by 17 Sundays River Valley producers, and a Grabouw apple farmer whose packhouse throughput rose by two-thirds.
LivestockAt a Royal Show panel, dairy farmers said South Africa has no broad surveillance for foot-and-mouth disease, measures vaccination the wrong way and may have to live with the virus for good.
LivestockAt the Royal Show's new Technology & Education Hub, Mangosuthu University of Technology described how artificial insemination, oestrus synchronisation and record-keeping are helping 33 communal farmers at Rietsdale improve their herds.
LivestockSouth Africa's Nampo Alfa expo brought animals back under strict biosecurity and vaccination rules, drew about 5,000 visitors, and is planning an Africa Livestock Conference for 2027.
CropsSouth Africa's Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy says fuel and electricity inflation is raising costs across farming and the food chain, while a strong El Niño could cut summer crops heading into 2027.
LivestockAgriculture Minister Willie Aucamp says the three countries must fight foot-and-mouth disease together, as South Africa ships vaccines to neighbours and waits on Botswana over biosecurity protocols for red meat imports.
