Traditionally, agricultural and food companies have been treated as the stepchildren of the stock market. Today, however, global supply constraints, combined with rising demand for food and technological developments, have turned many of these companies into attractive components of a well-diversified investment portfolio. According to Andrew Dittberner, chief investment officer at Old Mutual Private Client ...

For uncompromisingly good food in a relaxed winelands setting, I will often recommend Terroir Restaurant at Stellenbosch wine farm Kleine Zalze. With a very reasonable winter special menu from Chef Michael Broughton currently on offer, this recommendation gets even stronger. Terroir is well deserving of the acclaim and awards it has received thus far. The ...

Beef farmers in Ireland will be receiving €100 million (about R1,62 billion) in aid to compensate them for falling beef prices due to Brexit-related uncertainties, changes to the value of the pound, and price cuts since the Brexit vote. This follows recent protests in Cork during which members of the Irish Farmers’ Association strongly expressed their opposition ...

Corteva Agriscience is aiming to introduce advanced crop hybrids and crop protection products that will enable farmers in Africa to improve their productivity, income and lives. This was according to the company’s president for the Africa/Middle East commercial division, Prabdeep Bajwa, who told Farmer’s Weekly that while much of Southern Africa’s agriculture was relatively advanced, there were ...

Venezuela has been exporting large quantities of cocoa in recent months, as it is the one commodity in that country not yet subject to US sanctions. This has resulted in stockpiles of cocoa from Venezuela in the warehouses of the ICE commodities exchange in New York in the US, being at their highest levels since ...

An outbreak of anthrax has been reported in Qeme in Lesotho following the hospitalisation of more than 50 people in the area. These people reportedly became infected after consuming infected meat from cattle. In a statement, South Africa’s department of agriculture confirmed that the Veterinary Authority of Lesotho had reported three anthrax outbreaks to the ...

Farmers in the US have turned to social media to show how far behind they are with the planting season this year, due to the severe weather conditions the country is experiencing. Using the hashtag #NoPlant19, they are posting photos of the terrible conditions that are preventing them from planting their crops this spring. This ...

The auction, of Ankole and Ankole crossbreeds, was the first of its kind in South Africa. Ramaphosa’s Lot 35, NANK10-115, with a right horn length of over 110cm, was the highest-priced bull at the auction. It’s left horn length is more than 114cm; from tip to tip the horn length is over 129cm. Ramaphosa owns the ...

It has been estimated that the recent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in South Africa could cost the red meat value chain as much as R10 billion. This was according to Johan van der Colff, chairperson of the Red Meat Producers’ Organisation in the Northern Cape, who was speaking at the organisation’s recent annual congress in ...

Andile Ngcobo is just 24, but he is using this to his advantage, harnessing his youthful curiosity to find ways of improving the profitability of the 30ha open-field, dragline-irrigated fresh produce enterprise he manages on the 1 299ha Tusokuhle Farm in KwaZulu-Natal’s Table Mountain area. Tusokuhle, owned by businessman Dedani Mkhize, also comprises 300ha of ...