In 2014, 20% of the potato harvest on the farm Bottervlei in South Africa’s Western Cape Province was lost to rhizoctonia. “We didn’t have a chemical product that could guarantee clean soil. We had already treated all of our seed potatoes with Mancozeb (Reg. no. L7381), a fungicide, but it…
Biological products proved to be the best weapon against bollworm for paprika farmers in South Africa’s North West Province following a great deal of damage and enormous expenditure on chemical control products. “We bred super worms,” explains Stephan Niemann, a paprika farmer from the Stella area in South Africa (SA).…
A farmer from Bothaville in South Africa’s Free State Province uses rye as a windbreak for his carrot fields. Wind damage to their young carrots is a serious challenge for Toks Liebenberg from Greenpak and Attie Grobler, Farm Manager at Fraaiuitsig, which forms part of Greenpak. In an attempt to…
Dole Food Company sold 45% of its stock for US$300 million to the European fresh produce company Total Produce. Total Produce, one of the largest fresh produce companies in Europe, obtained a 45% stake in Dole Food Company. This transaction, worth US$300 million, brings to an end to months of…
Minimise sun damage and heat stress in your fruit by spraying your trees with a thin layer of kaolin clay. Few results are as credible as those from successful farm trials run by farmers themselves. In the case of Simon Baty from Matrozefontein in South Africa’s Sandveld region in the…
The current drought in South Africa’s (SA) Western Cape Province, as well as less hectares planted in the Northern Cape Province have resulted in lower volumes of onions at fresh produce markets, which has nearly doubled prices. The average onion price for all classes, grades and markets reached R5.22/kg on…
Belgian fresh produce distributor Greenyard’s final offer to buy Dole Food Company has been declined. Although Greenyard’s final offer to purchase Dole Food, an American company, on 5 January was unsuccessful, the latter still has several options to consider. According to Hannes Niewoudt, Managing Director of Dole South Africa, there…
Few countries can measure up to the high standard of greenhouse cultivation maintained in the Netherlands, the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world. Hoogendoorn, a Dutch company specialising in the automation of indoor plant cultivation, will present a free webinar on 25 January covering the balancing of…
Greenyard, the Belgian multinational fresh produce producer, may buy Dole Food Company, an American counterpart. One of the largest fresh produce distributors in Europe, Greenyard, is in negotiations to buy Dole Food Company. Greenyard, with a turnover of more than €3.2 billion, has a presence in western Europe, the United…
Illovo will be able to create more than 1 000 jobs in the sugarcane industry thanks to financial support by the South African government. Illovo, one of South Africa’s biggest sugar companies, is aggressively working towards meeting, and exceeding, its targets for black economic empowerment. To this end, the country’s National…
This family’s vegetable farming enterprise in the Gamtoos Valley in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa has expanded over the past nine years from a quarter hectare to nearly 40 hectares of vegetable production. They attribute their success to their willingness to exceed their customers’ demands and expectations. As…
The lobby group African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) warns that amendments to the Plant Improvement Act 53 of 1976 and the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act 15 of 1976 could, among other issues, restrict the exchange of seed. According to Linzi Lewis, researcher at ACB, small farmers will be held to…
Warmer weather conditions, coupled with the lack of frost this winter, led to an over-supply of tomatoes. If the warm weather persists, potatoes will also become even more cheaper. Lower prices coupled with an oversupply of tomatoes at South Africa’s national fresh product markets will likely affect tomato farmers until…
The farming community in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Midlands have taken ownership of an empowerment initiative to ensure neglected government farms in the area are productive again. Farmers near Mooirivier want to uplift the community by reviving the farms and empowering and training people. The uMATI initiative, a non-profit organisation, will…
Thirteen pig farmers from the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa have successfully shaken off the stranglehold of rising costs and a stagnating income for the last 13 years by marketing their produce jointly and reducing their risks. Even although South African pig farmers have been able to improve their productivity…
A boost of R3.3 million for Eastern Cape’s small farmers hopes to revive potato cultivation and simultaneously, the Kei Fresh produce market. Farmers in South Africa’s former Transkei region aim to harvest approximately 400 tons of potatoes as part of a development program for which the Eastern Cape Development Corporation…
Nine of South Africa’s largest market agents, altogether responsible for 80% of trade on the Johannesburg and Pretoria fresh produce markets, are under investigation from the Competition Commission for alleged cartel activities. The commission raided the agencies on 23 and 24 March in Gauteng, Durban and Cape Town. The agents…
