South African stonefruit growers are expected to ship their first fruit of the new season to Northern Hemisphere markets later this week.

Climate and weather play an important role in viticulture. While weather can change in a short period of time, like minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour,… climate represents the average of the weather over a period of time.

In mid-September, India imposed an export ban on its onions, which immediately resulted in a higher demand for Dutch, Spanish, Egyptian, Turkish and Chinese onions in Asia and the Middle East.

Growing crops in winter may become possible. Thanks to a discovery by the University of Amsterdam, crops can also grow well at lower temperatures.

Despite Covid-19 dealing an overall blow to South African economy, the agricultural sector, with fresh produce exports leading the way, became the toast of the country in the second quarter of the year, with its trade surplus growing 35 per cent.

South Africa’s agricultural sector has been one of the few bright spots in the economy, posting brisk growth of more than 15% in the second quarter (Q2) of 2020 when everything else imploded under the weight of the pandemic and associated lockdowns.