After a slight retreat to 67 in the third quarter, the Agbiz/IDC Agribusiness Confidence Index (ACI) recovered to 74 points in the final quarter of this year.

Dr Theo de Jager, Chairman of the board of Saai and president of the World Farmers Organisation, writes:

This year, South Africa's agricultural sector's exceptional performance, which is reflected in robust production volumes for the 2021 season and export volumes in the first three quarters of this year, is also evident in the jobs data.

There is heightened uncertainty worldwide in the wake of the new Covid-19 variant, Omicron (B.1.1.529).

At the dawn of democracy, few probably thought that nearly three decades on South Africa would still be battling with the phenomenon of ‘two agricultural systems”.

The SA Reserve Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) raised rates by 25 basis points to 3.75% on Thursday in a closely watched move that kept markets players guessing in the run up to the announcement.