Poultry in the mountains
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog We are in the process of finalising all chapters for the next edition of The Agri Handbook, and have been checking details in the poultry chapter this morning. We’d like to share information on a poultry enterprise that impresses us. Mikon Farms is based in Mpumalanga, an area which lies […]
South Africa: increasingly a market for EU agricultural exports
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog South Africans are mostly aware that the EU is a prime market for its agricultural produce. After the De Doorns industrial action at the beginning of the year we heard at least once from disgruntled strikers that food security was not the issue since most of the fruit […]
Agricultural metaphors
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog Energy doesn’t just disappear. It goes somewhere. So does life. Life is energy. And you are both. We may nod and agree intellectually … yes, yes … but does this assent go deeper, help us process the impulses behind our selves and what we are? You don’t just […]
Unearthed: farm girl’s award-winning international movie
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog The documentary Unearthed, by local farm girl Jolynn Minnaar near Graaff-Reinet, is drawing international attention. Its topic? Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) … Like many who grow up in rural areas or on a farm, Minnaar loved the wide uninhabited space of the Karoo. And when plans were revealed to […]
Eating
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog Most of us have been in a situation where we experience temporary hunger. It might be that we forgot to pack our lunch, or missed a meal and had to wait for the next one to be served. But mostly we did not give it a second thought. […]
Out in the streets
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog This afternoon, whilst I was mid-stream checking updates for the “Forage & pastures” chapter in the next Agri Handbook, the power went off. Step one in such an event is to go stand outside in the street. If you are the only one out there, then proceed with step […]
Living with other people’s narratives
This past week a certain country disputed the findings of a United Nations report, saying it rejected the UN’s “narrative”. It is not the name of the country that is important here, but this: if you lived in that country, what would your response have been been? Considering its frame of reference (or narrative), every […]
Farmers in France (and elsewhere)
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog It is with great concern that we read the article High suicide rate highlights plight of French farmers. Let us remember that most of us have lost touch with the vocation which allows us to be businessmen, doctors, bankers, lawyers etc. Somebody else cultivates the food that sustains you, and so […]
Growing meat and houses in science labs
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog Human evolution has gone hand-in-hand with the eating of meat. Over the centuries, the days and nights around the fires of feasts where meat was cooked must be countless. And the barbeques (braais in South Africa) of today go on. If you are unfamiliar with the production of meat […]
Exchange rates and agriculture
By Craig Macaskill Posted 2017-06-05 In Blog 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 […]