SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S. — S&W Seed Co. and AGT Foods Africa Pty Ltd. are partnering to form a new joint venture in South Africa that will produce and commercialize seed products in Africa. The new company will be called SeedVision SA Pty Ltd., and will be 50.1% owned by S&W and 49.9% owned by AGT Foods Africa.

The optimal planting window opened at the beginning of this month in the sunflower seed growing areas, but it is still a fairly quiet period in the fields as the expected rainfall has not yet materialised in most areas. This is not much of an issue because the optimal planting window will open until early January 2019.

There is still limited activity in the sunflower fields due to lower soil moisture on the back of drier weather conditions in the past couple of weeks.

This week starts with a positive message for soybean markets as the White House indicates that China has agreed to start purchasing agricultural products from US farmers immediately.

Noticing another notable move in the South African maize (white and yellow) and sunflower seed prices . Both nearest and new season contract month prices of these commodities increased by more than R100 a tonne from levels seen on Friday (December 7).

This week we have a series of domestic data releases. Yesterday SAGIS released its monthly figures, today the Crop Estimate Committee will publish its final production forecasts for 2017/18 sunflower seed crop and other summer crops, and producer deliveries data are due tomorrow.

Yesterday the Crop Estimate Committee’s summer grains preliminary plantings data showed that the area planted to maize is 2.3 million hectares.

We rarely explore developments in Mozambique’s agricultural sector as the country is not a key contributor to Southern Africa’s staple foods production such as maize, sorghum and wheat. But the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Idai meant that Mozambique should not be overlooked this year due to possible food needs over the coming months.

It has been nearly two months since the Chinese authorities temporarily suspended South African wool imports because of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak earlier in the year.

Researchers from the University of the Basque Country in Spain have been the first to discover the presence of certain aldehydes in food, which are believed to be related to some neurodegenerative diseases and some types of cancer.

If we do not write about South Africa’s first quarter of 2019 agricultural trade figures, one would assume that there have been limited positive developments in this sector as the past few months have been clouded by unwelcoming news.

Weekly Market Report- GrainSA

Extensive drought has Californians thinking twice about running the tap while brushing their teeth or taking that 20-minute shower.

South Africa’s agricultural sector is currently in another planning phase with the drafting of the Agriculture & Agro-processing Master Plan (AAMP).

Flowers are one of the most striking examples of diversity in nature, displaying myriad combinations of colours, patterns, shapes and scents.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted the supply of almost half of the world’s sunflower oil exports, forcing companies to turn to less desirable alternatives such as palm oil in products ranging from potato chips to cookies.