“Energy farmer”, wins R100 000 funding for project
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog Thabang Mabapa was announced the winner of the “business pitch challenge” at an event held in Mamelodi, Pretoria, over the weekend. His Limpopo-based project, Selokong Sa Dimelana, involves engaging local small-scale farmers to grow castor seed crops. This is used for the commercial production of an alternative biofuel. Mabapa […]
West Coast media trip: part 2 (Moutonshoek and Verlorenvlei)
The dust brought up the rear as the two buses came to a halt outside the furtherest buildings on Klein Namaquafontein, one of the farms making up the Moutonshoek Protected Environment.
West Coast media trip: part 3 (Elandsbaai)
The sight of the sea greeted me in the morning, that great mirror of something forgotten within ourselves, about ourselves …
Threats, challenges and opportunities: youth and agriculture
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog As the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) has set out in its 5-million jobs document, youth excluded from the labour force for long periods are deprived of on-the-job learning opportunities – and no-one learns as fast as youth. The International Labour Organisation estimates that between 80 to 100 million youth worldwide […]
West Coast media trip: part 1 (setting the stage)
In the week when farmer association KwaNalu reported that there were thousands of oil and gas exploration applications to prospect on KwaZulu-Natal farmland (Farmer’s Weekly 23 Sept 2016), a group of journalists and team assembled by the WWF Nedbank Green Trust were looking at how the possibility of a tungsten mine spurred a group of farmers to have their area classified as a Protected Environment.
Do penguins eat white maize or yellow maize?
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog Hats off to Dr Herman van Schalkwyk, CEO of the AMT, for including a contribution by Philip Lymbery, author of Farmageddonand CEO of Compassion in Worldwide Farming, at the AMT Conference in the week just passed. The book and the presentation pose serious questions to future scenarios of agriculture. Included […]
Matatiele farmer reaps reward of a dream come true
In David Mongoato’s office is a picture of himself as a small child, standing in a field of tall, ripe maize plants. He knew than that he wanted to be a farmer. But the path to your destiny is seldom a straight one. David and his wife Selloane worked as teachers for many years before […]
The future of land reform in South Africa – the next 15 years
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-02-02 In Blog Land Reform Futures Scenarios bring a fresh perspective and new hope on discussions on land reform – a press release As pressure mounts for the acceleration of the land reform programme, stakeholders in land reform held a roundtable session this week to discuss possible scenarios. The roundtable was hosted by […]