Now that the apple harvest has been completed or is nearing its end in many parts of Europe, the initial prospects have been adjusted. 

South African farmers are forecast to plant 7% more hectares of maize in 2018/2019 compared with the current season in anticipation of improved weather, a Reuters poll of four analysts showed on Friday.

Roquette, a French family-owned company and a maker of plant-based ingredients and new vegetable-based proteins, has signed a partnership agreement with Israel-based Equinom Ltd. to jointly develop new pea varieties with high protein content.

This April the dam levels in the Western Cape slumped to a low of just 18% and South Africans were bracing themselves for Day Zero.

Seed as a primary input to agriculture plays a pivotal role in linking agriculture and biodiversity to food sovereignty. Civil society must contest the credibility of corporate consolidation in the South African seed system on the basis that it is inappropriate, given the country’s challenges around biodiversity loss, climate change adaptation and food insecurity. 

The temperate southern coast of the Western Cape stands on the cusp of a big avocado expansion, says Dr Guy Witney, independent agricultural consultant and avocado project manager for Moolman Farms, as the revenue potential of off-season avocados from late areas becomes clear.