 The International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) World Conference was held in Miami, Florida, USA, from 18- 21 June 2017. Agbiz, and South Africa, was fairly well represented and certainly left their mark on the Conference, with especially the senior SA students team winning the prestigious Student Case Competition. Agbiz also partially supported the participation of Dr Andries Radley to present his Ph.D study on South African Agribusinesses at the IFAMA Symposium. Please click on his Abbreviated IFAMA World Conference Report to gain from his perspectives on the Conference. Currently Prof Johan van Rooyen is the President of IFAMA, while Dr John Purchase, CEO of Agbiz, also serves on the Board of IFAMA.
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 Corporate Governance has recently featured prominently both in the media and in the Government Gazette, albeit, ironically, for opposing reasons. The governance challenges facing state owned enterprises are well known and often reported on in the media. Within government, a series of high-profile suspensions have left the key departments of Rural Development and Land Reform, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Water and Sanitation leaderless. Theo Boshoff, Agbiz Head: Legal intelligence provides more information in the linked article»
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Food crop figures show SA won't starve
 "With all the negative economic and political news around the country, food production is at least one positive and fundamental thing we can all be at ease about," says Wandile Sihlobo, Agbiz Head: Agribusiness Intelligence. "This year brought a large summer grain and oilseed harvest of 18.10 million tonnes, which is a 92 percent annual increase. In addition, there was also a rebound in vegetable production. The benefits of this rebound are already reflected in grain commodity markets, with maize price already declined by over 60 percent from the July 2016. This has, however, not yet been fully reflected on the shelves at retail level due to time lags in the food processing chain and to some degree the sticky nature of prices." Click here to read Wandile Sihlobo's column, which was published in BusinessDay on 20 July 2017.
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SA food inflation unchanged at 6.9%
 Last month's food inflation figures show the significance of meat within the food basket. All products decelerated from the previous month's levels with the exception of meat which remained elevated and therefore, sustaining food inflation at 6.9%. The uptick in meat inflation mirrors the remaining effects of the 2015-16 El Niño induced drought in the livestock sector. As farmers continued to restock their herds, the slaughtering activity eased a bit with that resulting in the increase in meat prices. Wandile Sihlobo, Agbiz Head: Agribusiness Intelligence, provides more information in the linked update»
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A 2% uptick in fuel price on the cards in August 2017
 After experiencing two consecutive monthly declines, fuel price is set to increase on 2 August 2017. A notable uptick will be on diesel price which could be 2% from the previous month, whereas petrol might only increase by a mere 0.6%. Although this fuel price increase is set to come during a relatively quiet period in the agricultural sector, maize and some horticultural growing areas will still be at final stages of harvesting. Wandile Sihlobo, Agbiz Head: Agribusiness Intelligence, provides more information in the linked update»
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MASDT has recruited 23 new projects for 2017. These projects are spread over Mpumalanga, Limpopo and have a good balance between animal and crop producers -
Read more»
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- Timbali continues to deliver on targets while growing resources in 2016/17
- Rural Limpopo farmers supplying Gauteng markets with fresh produce
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- How Can Aid for Trade Help Advance the Sustainable Development Goals?
- Aid for Trade in Africa: What Are the Strategic Priorities?
- Regional Integration Imperatives and Aid for Trade in Africa
- Aid for Trade and Gender: Lessons from African Women Entrepreneurs
- Can Aid for Trade Assist Firms in Developing Countries to Comply with Sustainability Standards?
- How Can Aid for Trade Facilitate Trade in Services?
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Agriculture in South Africa is already well monitored using remote sensing data. More particularly, the country has its own Operational Crop Monitoring system named PICES. It consists in flying with very light aircraft or helicopter over a sample of fields selected from a sample frame. In-situ data are collected once in
the season based on point sample frame -
Read more»
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Funds are made available on an annual basis by the Protein Research Foundation (PRF) for bursaries to assist deserving candidates to obtain a master's or doctoral degree
- Read more»
Post Graduate Scholarship for a Masters or Doctors degree (OPDT)
Funds are made available on an annual basis by the Oil and Protein Seeds Development Trust (OPDT) for bursaries to assist deserving candidates to obtain a master's or doctoral degree -
Read more»
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AFASA Agribusiness Transformation Conference
1-4 August 2017
Land Reform Seminar
3 August 2017 | Sandton
The seminar will focus on the multi-dimensional character of Land Reform, the role of the judiciary in Land Reform and provide insight into the motivation behind the recent legislative amendments in this sphere over the past 18 months, the principles that form part of government's policy framework and their practical application.
PMA Fresh Connections Southern Africa Conference and Trade Show
16-17 August 2017 |
CTICC | Cape Town
Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition Symposium
23 August 2017 | CSIR, Pretoria
Agro-processing Investment & Technology Summit
29-31 August 2017 | Premier Hotel | OR Tambo International Airport | Johannesburg
Skills Development Summit
31 Aug - 1 September 2017 | CSIR | Pretoria
South African Association for Food Science & Technology (SAAFoST) 22nd Biennial International Congress and Exhibition
3-6 September 2017 | Century City Convention Centre | Cape Town
SA Innovation Summit
6-8 September 2017 | Cape Town
Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA) 55th Annual Conference
19-21 September 2017 | Elangeni Hotel | Durban
More information
MPO National Congress
20 September 2017 | Protea Hotel King George | George
Potatoes SA Congress
28 September 2017 | Premier Hotel OR Tambo | Johannesburg
International Conference on Global Food Security
3-6 December 2017 | CTICC | Cape Town
Conference Theme: Food Security: Global challenges, local solutions
More information
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