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Erasmus highlights the August 14 issue of Farmer's Weekly, focusing in its news section on the local herb market. That is for all your fresh herbs that you can buy in supermarkets like parsley, rosemary, coriander - the demand for these herbs have been growing steadily over the last couple of years as people have started to cook more from home and are more experimental with their cooking. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic this market has come almost to a complete standstill over the last few months. 

Also focus on the latest agricultural outlook for the next ten years that was released by the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations as well as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD. The outlook for the African regions is not good in the report. Expectations are that Africa will overtake Asia with the most undernourished people. 

More positive news - the decrease in the repo rate will be beneficial to farmers and we know that the farming sector has a massive debt load so many farmers will benefit from this latest decrease in the prime lending rate. 

More detail is also provided about what farmers can expect from Nampo virtual that is going to take place in September this year. 

In the features section, there is a story on a South African winemaker who recently decided to invest in a small vineyard in Slovenia. 

OFM News