Zandisile Luphahla, spokesperson for the department, says the swarm outbreaks are due to the change in weather patterns which has resulted in increased rainfall in the drought-stricken areas in the province. The department, along with locust pest control officers, as well as landowners, have already started efforts to control brown locust swarms. Luphahla appeals to the public that they should immediately notify the department as soon as they see swarms.

Agri SA is concerned that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa's (Nersa) new price determination methodology will have a devastating effect on farmers. This follows after Nersa said that its Electricity Division is embarking on a process to review the electricity industry price determination approach. Nersa says that this review is triggered by the current Electricity Industry crisis and changes happening in the Electricity Industry, including unstable prices, the unbundling of Eskom and the increase in registration threshold, amongst others. According to Janine Ryan, managing editor of Farmer's Weekly, if Nersa’s plans are implemented, this could lead to an energy price increase to up to 25% and 30% for farmers. Nersa's proposed plans are still open for public comment.

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Free State Agriculture will on Friday 5 November attend Nersa's public hearing with the aim to ask questions regarding how Eskom is allowed to set unaffordable electricity tariffs. This comes amidst concerns that the multi-year pricing methodology will end on 31 March 2022, which means that a new or revised methodology is required thereafter. The organisation says agriculture uses only 2.8% of the total energy mix produced by Eskom, but was the one sector whose energy consumption increased the most. From 2012 to 2021, agricultural energy consumption increased by 6.4%, residential users by 4.6%, and commercial users by 4.1%.

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