Agbiz CEO receives decoration from French ambassador
Dr John Purchase, CEO of Agbiz, received the Order of Agricultural Merit (Ordre du Mérite Agricole) from the ambassador of France, His Excellency Christophe Farnaud. The ceremony took place during the Agbiz Agribusiness Outlook 2019 media launch at the Menlyn Boutique Hotel in Pretoria this week. "The Order of Agricultural Merit rewards people who rendered exceptional services to agriculture, whether in public duties or in the very practice of agriculture. It also rewards people who distinguished themselves in scientific research or in related publications," the ambassador said in his speech. Please click here for the ambassador's complete speech.
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DPME consults on 25-year review
On Tuesday 4 December, Agbiz participated in a consultative session with the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) on their 25-year review. The brief is as simple as it is wide, namely to look at what South Africa did right, what we could have done better and what we need to change to achieve greater prosperity in the next 25 years.
The department prepared a comprehensive report (in excess of 500 pages) to review the successes and failures of various policies over the past 25 years starting with the RDP, GEAR and finally the NDP.
The review is not specific to any sector but naturally Agbiz focused on agriculture and agribusiness. Agbiz provided inputs into this process in the course of the past few months and again made oral submissions at the consultations which focused on the growth experienced over this period. Other issues under discussion included the challenges we face regarding transformation, water quality and availability as well as the need to open up new markets to sustain inclusive growth through trade agreements.
The report will be available on DPME's website shortly and interested parties can continue to provide written inputs.
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Agribusiness Confidence Index falls to nine-year low
Subsequent to a decline from 54 to 48 points in the third quarter of 2018, the Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Confidence Index weakened further to 42 in the last quarter of the year. This is the lowest point since the fourth quarter of 2009. The results, which are below the neutral 50-point mark, imply that agribusinesses are downbeat about business conditions in South Africa. The survey was conducted in November and comprised agribusinesses operating in all agricultural subsectors across South Africa. Please
click here for the report and data, compiled by Agbiz head of Agribusiness Reearch Wandile Sihlobo.
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South African agricultural economy recovers in Q3, 2018
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. Within the horticultural subsector, the most notable performer was the citrus industry which has thus far exported a record 2 million tonnes for the year. The uptick in animal products somewhat mirrors the recovery in the livestock sector after the 2015/16 drought period. Nonetheless, we still believe that the agricultural sector will contract in 2018 due to generally lower output of major agricultural commodities compared to 2017.
Click here for more insights in Wandile Sihlobo's article.
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SA crops could struggle, judging by the weather
SA's recent agricultural GDP figures, which show that the sector escaped the recession in the third quarter, expanding 6.5% on a quarter-on-quarter (seasonally-adjusted annualised) basis, are no call for celebration. The recovery could be temporary and weak as the weather outlook, which initially painted a positive picture, now turns out to be a key challenge that could once again negatively affect the performance of the sector in 2019. Wandile Sihlobo provides more insights in the linked article that was written for and first published on Business Day.
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Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) is recruiting a trade and cooperation executive director. As a member of the top management team, this role is responsible for leading and executing BUSA's strategy and actions in relation to trade and cooperation so as to ensure that cross-cutting business
interests are advocated and influenced.
This role requires delivery of the trade policy agenda on behalf of BUSA and cooperative engagement with a view to advocating and influencing South African business interests, strengthening relationships and advancing economic and business opportunities. Please
click here for more information.
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Trumpeting: Addressing climate change in agriculture
This November issue of the NAMC's Trumpet publication covers the following topics:
Renewable energy: One of the measures through which to address the climate change issue in the agricultural sector; c
omparing prices received by participating and non-participating farmers in the custom feeding initiative of the National Red Meat Development Programme; t
he impact of anti-dumping duty on consumer prices of frozen bone-in chicken portion imports from the European Union;
agriculture and the African continental free trade area.
Please
click here
to read more.
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FSA's newsletter gives the latest agri news
Free State Agriculture's newsletter for November 2018
includes information about safety measures for agricultural communities and tips to prevent stock theft over the festive season, the amendment of section 25 of the Constitution, how communities stand together in times of crises and what the national minimum wage entails. Also get news about the latest statistics on farm attacks, what was said at a meeting with traditional leaders, a so-called labour inspector's tricks and much more. Please click here to peruse.
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Get the latest table grape trade news from SATI
Please
click here to get the latest table grape news in the South African Table Grape Industry's (SATI) newsletter.
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2019 DEKALB Create Conferences
First Bi-annual International Soy for Human Health Conference 2019
11-13 March 2019 | St George Hotel | Pretoria
CGA Citrus Summit
1
2-14 March 2019 | Boardwalk Hotel | Port Elizabeth
Global Cherry Summit 2019
25 April 2019
| Monticello Conference Center | San Francisco de Mostazal, Chile
Ensminger Pig Symposium
22-23 May 2019 | Kopanong Hotel and Conference Centre | Benoni
PMA Fresh Connections: SA Conference and Trade Show
30-31 July 2019 | Century City | Cape Town
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Why join Agbiz?
- Agbiz is the only organisation that serves the broader and common over-arching business interests of agribusinesses in South Africa.
- Agbiz addresses the legislative and policy environment on the many fronts that it impacts on the agribusiness environment.
- Agbiz facilitates considerable top-level networking opportunities so that South African agribusinesses can play an active and creative role within the local and international organised business environment.
- Agbiz research provides sector-specific information for informed decision-making.
- Agbiz newsletter publishes members' press releases and member product announcements.
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THIRD-PARTY WEBSITE LINKS TO THIS NEWSLETTER
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The Agbiz Newsletter may contain a few links to websites that belong to third parties unrelated to us. By making these links available, we are not endorsing third-party websites, their content, products, services or their events. Agbiz seeks to protect the integrity of its newsletter and links used in it, and therefore welcomes any feedback.
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