UK expert says: "You cannot consider fracking in a water-stressed area"

Sir David King has been in South Africa this week. King is UK special representative on climate change.

He believes South Africa can benefit from strongly falling solar photovoltaic (PV) prices. The country has land which is underutilised -- and much sunshine. He is also in favour of nuclear energy.

Interestingly, he is less enthusiastic about hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking". (For overseas visitors, controversial plans are in the pipeline to do fracking in South Africa's dry Karoo area). Find the report here.

Meanwhile, officials from Ohio, Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas in the US have met to discuss fracking-induced earthquakes, and to see what can be done.

Shale gas is one of the sources of energy on which you will find notes in the Energy chapter of The Agri Handbook. Solar and other renewable energy sources are looked at in a dedicated Renewable energy chapter.

Keeping ahead

Grape and olive farmers will be interested to hear that French company PELLENC is setting up shop here from the 1st of May. The company designs and sells machines to work in vineyards and orchards (grape harvesters, trimmers, pruning shears and so on). Interested parties can view what is on offer here.

Grapes, olives and wine are amongst the nearly 180 chapters of The Agri Handbook.

In the space of being squeezed between input and labour costs and what they get for their produce, farmers are interested in new technology, machinery ... anything which gets the job done, which saves costs and makes farming more profitable. Farmers keep their eyes on the market floor, agricultural magazines and events like Nampo. The latter will be taking place from 13 - 16 May this year. See you there!

Our farmers and the World Meteorological Organisation

Do you know that 13 of the 14 warmest years on record have happened since our calendars went from 1999 to the year 2000?

Our country has become increasingly familiar with extreme weather. In places like the Free State and North West we saw drought that devastated the prospects of farmers and reduced them to tears -- and then came floods which caused millions of rands damage! The eastern parts of the country only had floods.

The United Nations' World Meteorological Organisation released its annual report today which confirms a disquietening trend of droughts and floods and extreme weather around the world.

Climate change and global warming is one of the chapters in The Agri Handbook.

What's that you say?

How does one place a value on communication? It is probably the most important aspect of life. To teach and learn. To tell another how you feel. With these we make a living and a life.

A person's worldview and intentions are factors in communication, of course, and we have touched on this elsewhere. Here we wish to say that information and communication technology (ICT) makes literally a world of difference to the agricultural value chain.

• Software programmes available range from financial programmes to management functions: irrigation scheduling, tank control in cellars, packhouse control and so on. Improving efficiencies is vital for profitable operations.
• Most of our knowledge comes from sight, from seeing what something looks like and how something is done. ICT is crucial in building capacity in the workforce. View the latest offering from SA Orchard on picking pome fruit.
• Radio, magazines and other media keep you informed. Cellphones (mobile phones) are not just phones. They switch on pumps and close gates and bring news from markets. Drones enable you to check on the level of water troughs on the other side of the farm.

The ICT and agricultural media chapter in The Agri Handbook sketches the services offered by this medium in agriculture.

Wheat price high

The news this evening is that wheat prices in South Africa are at their highest since 2008, a result of the Ukraine crisis. Role players here have argued for years that the State should do more to encourage the local industry (the import tariff is way below what is allowed under WTO regulations).

Read about the wheat industry in South Africa (and globally) in the wheat chapter of The Agri Handbook.

News on free Afrikaans Agri Handboek download ...

For those of you who may have missed the Landbouweekblad article Gratis handboek oor die landbou, the Afrikaans version of The Agri Handbook is available as a free download here. Fill in the details required and after about two minutes you will receive an email with a link on it. Click on the link and carry on with other work. After about twenty minutes the eBook will be in your Downloads folder.

This is a useful resource to have on your PC or company server, especially because of the search function.

The English download is available for $5 (find the link on the small thumbnail picture on the right of the screen).

A forum for African CEOs

French magazine publisher Groupe Jeune Afrique in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB) is organisaing the second Africa CEO Forum from the 17th - 19th of this month.

The trends in agribusiness is one of the areas being looked at as this think-tank works on strategies to encourage growth. Read more here.

Africa and agriculture is the opening chapter in The Agri Handbook, giving overviews of the situation, the potential and role players.

Exchange rates and agriculture

The South African currency, the rand (ZAR) is significantly worth less than it was a year ago. What are the implications for agriculture?

• It is good news for exporters because they are paid in the currencies which are stronger than the local one.
• It is good news for grain producers as grain prices are derived from international prices.
• It is bad news for the meat and dairy industries if their product prices do not increase in line with feed price increases. [Find the several individual chapters in the Livestock section of The Agri Handbook].
• It is bad news when it comes to buying inputs - machinery, fuel, fertiliser and agro-chemicals.

Written with acknowledgement to Robyn Joubert's article "Weaker rand's ups and downs" in the Farmer's Weekly

Wheat and the Ukraine

The news from the commodity trading people is that wheat prices are surging, a result of the crisis in the Ukraine and fears of a disruption there. This region is a major wheat exporter. Combined wheat exports from here will be approximately 26 million tonnes (about 17% of the world trade), according to the latest figures from the US Department of Agriculture.

Read about the wheat industry in South Africa (and globally) in the wheat chapter of The Agri Handbook.