Day Zero: farmers in the Western Cape forbidden to use water

We smiled grimly at a tweet yesterday, Boere mag nie meer pomp nie, with an accompanying comment: “Ek voel rerig jammer vir die ouens in die Kaap” (I feel really sorry for the guys in the Cape). The English “farmers may not pump anymore” misses out on the bawdy innuendo.

There is nothing amusing about not being allowed water for your crops, of course.

Today, the Landbouweekblad leads with the story "Boere se dag zero het aangebreek". Farmers on the Cape peninsular, particularly those on irrigation schemes, are left with few prospects of maintaining their businesses. There are salaries and bills to pay, but without water these enterprises will collapse. Water, like the soil itself, is central to agriculture.

The prospect of a metropolis running out of water is a bleak one indeed, and several international news outlets are joining the South African ones in paying attention to the unfolding drama.

The other tweet I saw, a non-DA person encouraging Black Capetonians to waste water, is short-sighted. It is not in anyone’s interest that a city runs out of water.

I can’t even turn the tap on to wash my hands or brush my teeth without remembering the Western Cape.

For our overseas readers: the Western Cape, a South African success story, is the only province not run by the governing political party.

Lowering of food standards in UK a result from any trans-Atlantic deal?

On Tuesday, The Guardian reported concern in the UK about any US-UK free trade deal. Several practices, outlawed in the EU are accepted in the US. These are listed as

1. Chlorine-washed chicken (banned in the EU). 
2. Hormone-treated beef (banned in the EU). 
3. Ractopamine in pork (banned in the EU). 
4. Chicken litter as animal feed (banned in the EU). Includes the birds' faeces. 
5. Atrazine-treated crops (banned in the EU). Atrazine is a herbicide used on 90% of sugar cane, which can enter into the water supply and interfere with wildlife. 
6. Genetically modified foods (banned in the EU). 
7.  Brominated vegetable oil (banned in the EU). BVO is used in citrus drinks; Coca-Cola announced it would stop using BVO in 2004. 
8. Potassium bromate (banned in the EU). A dough conditioner also banned in China, Brazil and Canada, in tests on rats it has been found to be a possible carcinogen. 
9. Azodicarbonamide. A bleaching agent for flour, it has been linked to an increase in tumours in rats. 
10. Food colourants (banned in the UK, regulated in the EU). Can lead to hyperactivity in children. 

Campaigners are concerned that food safety standards will be sacrificed in the pursuit of a post-Brexit deal as British farmers would be required to drop standards to remain competitive. Find the report here.

Find relevant chapters like Biotechnology, Organic farming and Exporting in The Agri Handbook.