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The news section of the 27 November 2020 edition of Farmer’s Weekly takes a look at what the renewed Covid-19 lockdowns in European countries might mean for fruit exports to that region over December 2020 and January 2021. Erasmus says this period is traditionally marked as being one of the main exporting seasons for South African fruit, such as stone fruit and table grapes - which particularly comes from the Northern- and Western Cape. She says currently, the industry does not expect much delay or much of a negative impact on exports to that region. The industry says that the lessons learned during South Africa’s hard lockdown were sufficient to prepare it for the challenges that the new lockdowns in the northern parts of the world might pose.

Furthermore, this edition also takes a look at egg production. This, as South African egg producers are being urged to adhere to sizing regulations after customers complained that eggs did not comply with the stated sizing on the packaging. Erasmus says the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) provides guidelines as to what these regulations are and also guides farmers on how they should go about adhering to these regulations.

Lastly, readers can look forward to a follow up on plant breeders’ rights in the blueberry industry. Erasmus adds that the United Exports, one of the main exporters of blueberries from South Africa, intervened with a shipment of blueberries from a local producer, saying that the producer had contravened plant breeders’ rights agreement with this company. This edition takes a look at the latest developments pertaining to the events as well as what the possible repercussions might be.

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