Agbiz meets with Tshwane Mayor
 The CEO of Agbiz, Dr John Purchase, this past week met with the Mayor of Tshwane, Mr Solly Msimanga, to explore greater investment by agribusinesses in agro-processing, as well as explore opportunities for smallholder and new farmer development in the greater Tshwane Metro area. The event was facilitated by the USA Embassy in South Africa. Interested agribusinesses are welcome to contact Dr Purchase if they wish to explore investment and/or agro-processing opportunities in the Tshwane Metro area.
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Celebrating five years of (not) implementing the National Development Plan
 12 September marked five years since the National Development Plan (NDP) was officially adopted by Parliament as the blue print for South Africa's development until the year 2030. The occasion was rightly celebrated as it is rare for a document of this importance to be accepted so widely by so many across the political spectrum. However, five years down the line, the celebrations should be somewhat subdued if one is to make an honest assessment of how far we have come in implementing its recommendations and nowhere is this more apparent than the recommendations made to accelerate land reform in Chapter 6. Theo Boshoff, Agbiz Head: Legal Intelligence provides more information
here»
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Eskom inquiry booklet released - shocking revelations
 The State Capacity Research Project has released the Eskom Enquiry Booklet on governance matters, or the lack thereof, at Eskom over the past couple of years. Clearly the consumer, including agribusiness, has had to fork out billions of Rand to enrich kleptocrats within the SOE and Government, as well as corrupt "businessmen". This is unacceptable and the Parliamentary Enquiry into Eskom will need to be monitored closely to ensure that the guilty parties are all identified and brought to account. Please click on Eskom Enquiry Booklet to peruse.
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Eskom's revenue application for 2018/2019 shocks
 This week the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) gazetted
Eskom's revenue application for 2018 / 2019 and an associated explanatory memorandum for comment. The closing dates for comments is 13 October 2017
and Agbiz will be sure to comment, given alleged widespread corruption and fraud within this State Owned Enterprise (SOE).
Agbiz has continuously, since 2010, advised its members to develop energy security strategies for their businesses and a number of members have heeded this advice by installing large scale renewable energy generating facilities to meet their electricity demand. This call remains relevant, given the 19,9% tariff increase requested. Please click on Revenue Application and Explanatory Note to peruse.
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Western Cape drought and declining confidence weigh on farmers
 Although the agricultural sector emerged as an anchor of South Africa's economy in the second quarter of this year growing by 33.6% quarter-on-quarter, a closer observation shows that things are not all rosy. The decline in agribusinesses confidence and persistent dryness in the Western Cape province could slow the performance of the sector in the short-to-medium term.
It remains unclear whether confidence could be revitalized in the short term, given the nature of the key drivers of the recent decline. These key drivers were the unfavourable weather conditions in the Western Cape province, as well as slow white maize export activity.
Click to read Wandile Sihlobo's column which appeared in BusinessDay on 14 September 2017.
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| INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT |
 The 2016/17 table grape industry season just came to an end with a record high of 67.5 million cartons (1 carton equivalent to 4.5 kg). That is almost one million more cartons packed and inspected... S
ifiso Ntombela, Agbiz head international trade and investment intelligence, provides more information here»
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DowDuPont merger successfully completed
On 1 September, DowDuPont announced the successful completion of the merger of equals between The Dow Chemical Company ("Dow") and E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company ("DuPont"), effective 31 August 2017. The combined entity is operating as a holding company under the name "DowDuPont™" with three divisions - Agriculture, Materials Science and Specialty Products -
Media release»
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September is agritourism month
Farmer members of Agritourism South Africa can promote their farms for free during Tourism Month in September 2017. Tourism Month is an annual celebration of South Africa's rich and varied tourism offering that seeks to encourage South Africans to explore and discover their own country. For more information,
click here»
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AgriSETA grant - Abattoir Skills Training
The AgriSETA Discretionary Grant window period for Abattoir Skills Training is open for applications from 1st September 2017 until 31 October 2017 -
more information»
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Latest ENSO Diagnostics Discussion
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2018 Agbiz Congress: 7-8 June 2018
It is our pleasure to inform you that the 2018 Agbiz Congress will be held on 7-8 June 2018 at the Boardwalk International Convention Centre in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape.
C
ongress theme: Uncertainty Creates Opportunity.
Find linked the sponsorship and advertising levels containing information to assist with your planning. Please note: Sponsorship bookings will open at 12:00 on Monday, 9 October 2017, and no bookings will be accepted prior to the abovementioned date and time.
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Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA) 55th Annual Conference
19-21 September 2017 | Elangeni Hotel | Durban
More information
MPO National Congress
20 September 2017 | Protea Hotel King George | George
Potatoes SA Congress
28 September 2017 | Premier Hotel OR Tambo | Johannesburg
TXF Cape Town 2017
3-4 October 2017 | Table Bay Hotel
Agbiz CEO, Dr John Purchase, will be speaking in the opening session on making the agri value chain working for all participants.
Agbiz information session for agribusinesses
5 October 2017 | Western Cape
Programme
More information
Werksmans Attorneys Land reform seminar
Dissecting facts from fiction
5 October 2017 | V&A Waterfront, Cape Town
5 October 2017 | Johannesburg
More information
East and Southern Africa Fertilizer Agribusiness Conference 2017
Agri-food Fest Conference
13 October 2017 | Pretoria Show Grounds
AGRI 5 Commodities Workshop & Expo
20-21 October 2017 |
East London Show Grounds
13th SIAMAP International Show
31 October to 5 November 2017 | Tunisia
African Agri Investment Indaba 2017
20-22 November 2017 | CTICC | Cape Town
30 Nov - 1 Dec 2017 | Lagoon Beach Hotel | Cape Town
Information:
invitesrenapri@gmail.com
International Conference on Global Food Security
3-6 December 2017 | CTICC | Cape Town
Conference Theme: Food Security: Global challenges, local solutions
More information
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Being a member of Agbiz provides various benefits and opportunities
- 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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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 placed upon it, and therefore welcomes any feedback.
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