"If at first, you don’t succeed, try and try again." This is the approach of the Farmer Development Programme at Grain SA and a motto which proved to let years of dedication to proper farmer development come to fruition at just the right time.

The Land Bank has committed to making approximately R75 million available for black small-scale farmers, The National Agricultural Marketing Council will receive R99.2 million, the Land and Agricultural Development Bank of SA, R99.8 million, and the government has guaranteed that by 2013, over 2 000 farmers will be trained in cost-effective farming methods, as well as assisting in planning for economic growth and job creation.

At a business level, the current attitude that resources are infinite, needs to be urgently addressed and reversed before irreparable damage is done, both locally and globally. 

South Africa teeters on a very fine line between food secure and insecure – a plight that has earned the attention of government, the private sector and industry bodis to address what could potentially be a devastating and far reaching crisis should it escalate. Even the simplest definition of food security encompasses a number of variable facts that can affect a nation’s food security. 

Due to the size of its economy, South Africa is the largest polluter on the continent and ranks amongst the top 20 of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the world. But the government has their sights set on a solution to sustainability: the 2030 Vision.