Freestateagriculture

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- Agricultural pesticides and public health remains a major unresolved challenge

The tension between agricultural productivity and public health remains one of the most persistent and unresolved challenges in many countries, particularly those where agriculture employs the vast majority of the population.Agrochemicals play a vital role in modern farming.

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- It is time to look after the consumers in South Africa.

With the sharp increase in fuel prices expected in April 2026, the entire value chain will once again raise their prices because of higher fuel costs.

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- South Africa’s Foot-and-Mouth Disease Crisis going on

South Africa is still waiting months for critical laboratory results to determine which strains of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) are circulating across the country.

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- South Africa's ongoing (FMD) crisis has indeed created a stark divide within the agricultural sector. 1st February 2026

South Africa's ongoing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) crisis has indeed created a stark divide within the agricultural sector, pitting advocates for private-sector involvement against the government's insistence on centralised control.

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- South Africa's Inflation Frustrations: Facts as of February 2026

South Africa's inflation—particularly the role of fuel prices, food prices, and the Reserve Bank's interest rates—is a widespread frustration among many South Africans. Let's look at the facts in February 2026 and how they align with your points.

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- Which Agribusinesses Truly Stand with Us During the FMD Crisis

As commercial farmers battling the devastating foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak alongside thousands of others, we need to identify which agribusiness companies are genuinely standing with us in this fight.

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- Financial assistance to Farmers- FMD

Over the past few months, almost every major farming publication and broadcaster in South Africa has interviewed Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen about the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- Will South Africa disease FMB strategy keep up with the demand.

While maintaining international standards, strict state oversight, and regulatory integrity in South Africa's foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) response is essential and uncontested—ensuring strain matching, vaccine quality, and the state as the competent authority—farmers are raising a deeper structural concern: whether the current centralized control system can deliver the biological intensity and sustained rhythm the disease demands.

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- South Africa -Vaccine is FREE but how long is the waiting list - and the T&C

The FMD vaccines remain completelyfree for South African farmers—the government, through Minister John Steenhuisen, pays for every dose, from buying them abroad (like from Argentina's Biogénesis Bagó and Turkey's Dollvet) to getting them to farms and injecting the animals. No farmer pays a cent directly.

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- WATER is a humanright -

South Africa is markingWorld Water Day on 22 March 2026 amid growing concern over the state of its freshwater resources, particularly in agriculture and rural areas.

WEEKEND-VIEWPOINT- Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) application to family farming under the AgriBEE Sector Code:

South Africa'sBroad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) framework aims to redress historical economic exclusion by promoting broader black participation through ownership, management, skills development, enterprise support, and preferential procurement.