"It is with sadness that Agbiz announces the sudden passing of its chairman, Mr Schalk Pienaar, on Sunday, the 6th of May 2018. Mr Pienaar had been the Chairman of Agbiz since 2010, a role that he fulfilled with true leadership and distinction. He will be sorely missed, not only by Agbiz and its members, but by the whole agriculture and agribusiness fraternity for his wise counsel and constructive contributions over decades of service in various leadership positions in agribusiness", said Dr John Purchase, CEO of Agbiz.
"Agbiz extends its sincerest condolences to his wife and family, and trusts that they will find consolation and strength in the meaningful and very special life he lived", Dr Purchase added.
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 Soybean development is one of South Africa's agricultural success stories. Its production has grown significantly since the dawn of democracy, from 67 700 tonnes in the 1993/94 production season to over a million tonnes, as previously noted. This was stimulated by growing demand for soybean oilcake or meal by the animal feed industry. This, in turn, has been driven by an increase in the demand for high protein food, particularly poultry products. South Africa's per capita consumption of poultry meat almost doubled over the past 17-years, currently estimated at 41 kilograms, according to data from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Click to read Wandile Sihlobo's full column which appeared in Business Day on 10 May 2018
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After experiencing robust growth of 41% y/y in March 2018, driven by government procurement ahead of the end of its financial year, the South African tractor sales grew at a relatively softer pace of 15% y/y in April, with 459 units sold. On average, 22 tractors were sold a day last month, compared to 35 tractors in March 2018 and 19 tractors a day in April 2017. The good sales performance last month mirrors the optimism ahead of the winter crop planting process, which recently commenced in parts of the Western Cape province. Looking at the historical trend, this month's tractor sales are likely to remain solid.
Wandile Sihlobo explains more on the
linked article»
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 The agricultural sector continues to be seen as a sector that could potentially absorb masses of unemployed South Africans, particularly the low skilled and rural labour force. In fact, the National Development Plan notes that the sector has a potential to create an additional million jobs by 2030 if conditions highlighted in a document are met. Without saying much about the feasibility of that, I thought it would be interesting to reflect on this chart (featured image) - illustrating a long-term trend of the South African agricultural labour force.
Read more on Wandile Sihlobo's blog»
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Click here to read the daily market view on commodities and the weekly wrap.
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The Free State-based private agricultural college, Peritum Agri Institute entered into an international cooperation and exchange agreement with the Netherland-based Aeres University for Applied Sciences -
Read more»
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Hugh Grant announced his intent to leave Monsanto at the closing of the acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer AG. Grant will maintain his position as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until closing, continuing to focus on leading the company on its top objectives of securing deal approval and delivering on its underlying business priorities. Bayer continues to target closing in the second calendar quarter of 2018 -
Read more»
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Registration for the Agbiz Congress - Closed
Closing date for registration: 10 May 2018
Congress: 7-8 June 2018
Welcome Function: 6 June 2018
Gala Dinner: 7 June 2018
Agbiz AGM: 8 June 2018
We look forward to seeing all how has registered at the 2018 Agbiz Congress. Follow all the latest about the 2018 Agbiz Congress and join the conversation on social media by posting and tweeting using the official congress hashtag #AGBIZcongress18
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NAMPO
15-18 May 2017 | NAMPO Park | Bothaville
More information
21 to 25 May 2018 | South Africa
The Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), The World Academy of Sciences Regional Office for sub-Saharan Africa (TWAS-ROSSA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) are seeking candidates to participate in the inaugural regional training workshop on science diplomacy to be held in South Africa.
More information
World Potato Congress
27-31 May 2018 | Peru | South America
Potatoes SA Transformation Symposium
7 June 2018 | Pretoria
More information
Agri Human Capital Mini-Summit
Peritum Agri Institute
14-15 June 2018 | Peritum Campus | Bloemfontein
More information
4th Annual Competition and Economic Regulation (ACER) week
16-20 July 2018 | Johannesburg
More information»
Manufacturing Indaba
19-20 June 2018 | Sandton Convention Centre | Johannesburg
More information
Vision 2030 Summit
20-21 June 2018 | Emperors Palace | Gauteng
More information
Farmer's Weekly Argentina Tour 2018
22 June - 1 July 2018
More information
IFAMA World Conference
23-27 June 2018 | Buenos Aires | Argentina
More information
Regional Trade Facilitation Forum for grain stakeholders in the Eastern & Southern Africa region
28 June 2018 | Lusaka | Zambia
The Forum is expected to convene sellers and buyers of grain commodities from the Southern and Eastern Africa regions to network and execute trade deals.
Invitation letter
Programme
Registration form
FW Agribusiness Africa Conference
18-19 July 2018 | Emperors Palace
Enquiries: Marianna du Plessis, e-mail
africa@caxton.co.za
International Soy for Human Health Conference
1-3 August 2018 | St George Hotel and Conference Centre | Pretoria
More information
PMA Fresh Connections Southern Africa Conference and Tradeshow
15-16 August, 2018 |
CSIR | Pretoria
Early bird registrations now open
AGRI 5 Commodities Workshop & Expo
20-21 September 2018
Venue: East London Show Grounds
Contact info: 011 056 6856
Agbiz Grain Symposium
21 August 2018 | Pretoria
FERTASA Soil Fertility & Plant Nutrition Symposium
21 August 2018 | CSIR | Pretoria
Enquiries:
candice@fertasa.co.za
56th Annual Conference of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA)
25-27 September 2018 | Lord Charles Hotel | Somerset-West
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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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Third-party website links to this newsletter
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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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