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While levy uncertainty clouds the future of Milk SA and its projects, the company’s last general meeting for 2025 focused on the enormous amount of work done by its various committees and the performance of the projects over the past year.
Structured fight against FMD
Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and the devastating impact it had on the primary industry were one of the biggest issues addressed on the day. Currently, the Northern Cape is the only South African province that has not had an FMD positive case.
Dr Mark Chimes, head of Milk SA’s Animal Health and Welfare Programme, gave feedback on the current FMD situation, saying that the disease is likely to remain an issue for the next few years and could still haunt the industry for the next decade. Dr Chimes is one of three veterinarians representing the dairy industry on a national level as part of the industry-government task team on animal disease prevention, management and control appointed by the minister of agriculture in September. The other two veterinarians are Dr Jacqui Marais and Dr Anthony Davis.
“The minister divided us into subcommittees, and between the three of us, we ensured that the dairy industry is represented on each of the relevant committees, to ensure that the industry is kept in the loop at all times,” Dr Chimes explained their strategy.
The main problem currently is that the government is continuously chasing the disease, rather than getting ahead of it. Consequently, the disease has continued to spread faster than authorities could extinguish it. While Dr Chimes did welcome the idea of blanket vaccinations across the board, the reality is that the earliest that new vaccines could arrive in South Africa is late in January or early in February. It is also worrying that the current Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI) vaccine used by the department is a water-based vaccine. This means that the vaccination process needs to be repeated every three months.
Another issue highlighted by Dr Chimes is the fact that there are many myths surrounding food safety with regard to FMD. “There are still a lot of countries that refuse to buy milk sourced from any farm that is situated within a 10km radius of a farm that tested positive for FMD.” This is despite extensive research indicating that UHT milk is safe for consumption.
Dr Chimes said another worrying issue is the fact that the government has not sent any samples to the Pirbright Institute since 2013. This institute is a British research establishment in England, which includes international reference laboratories for the diagnosis of livestock diseases, including the World Reference Laboratory for FMD. “In June, the minister instructed officials to send samples to Pirbright. This still has not happened.”
While officials continue to drag their feet, veterinarians are despised as farmers do not want their animals to receive the F-brand for FMD vaccinations. This is understandable as it immediately leads to discrimination in the marketplace, Dr Chimes said. “However, we have not seen any disease outbreak this bad since the rinderpest.”
Economic realities
Bertus van Heerden, Milk SA’s project manager for markets and economies, said it is heartening to see that international milk consumption indicates that the global population is increasingly consuming milk. However, globally, analysts are vague and non-committal, highlighting why it’s critical to have strong institutions in place to provide data for economists.
One of the concerning trends is that the world is spending more money on defence. The world’s defence expenditure has increased from 2,2 to 2,6%. The positive side to this is that America – the world’s largest defence spender – is spending 1% less on their defence systems. Higher defence spending correlates with greater protectionism.
Van Heerden said with regard to food prices, there is still a clear distinction between prices before and after the Covid-19 epidemic. “Over the past 25 years, countries gradually started easing up on their stockpiles. However, in recent years they’ve started rebuilding stocks, and we can see the price support for that,” Van Heerden said.
With regard to milk consumption, Van Heerden said South Africa’s contribution to the world’s milk production is very little. In fact, he believes the country’s exports could increase significantly, and still be in a position where it would not be placed on the radar of the world’s large dairy export players.
South Africa’s milk price is very low – especially when compared to European prices. That is why Van Heerden believes the country would be able to compete globally.
International focus
Melt Loubser, vice-chairperson of Milk SA and president of the SA National Committee of the International Dairy Federation (IDF), spoke about this year’s World Dairy Summit, which was held in Santiago, Chile. He stressed the importance of the dairy industry’s continued association with the IDF, noting that this connection provides access to global expertise, as some of the world’s best dairy scientists are part of the federation.
Loubser added that it is great to see that the global dairy dialogue was moving away from the idea that dairy farms are negatively impacting the climate and more towards the reality that dairies act as carbon sinks. “The message about the goodness of dairy and the big role the industry can play in sustainability was constantly highlighted.”
Milk SA’s future is murky
Fanie Ferreira, CEO of the MPO, did not attend the Milk SA meeting, but was present at the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (Afasa) leadership and partnership conference, which took place on the same day.
During the conference, minister Steenhuisen announced the government’s plans to vaccinate the entire national herd against FMD. The day also marked the minister’s formal rejection of Sampro’s application for continued statutory measures. – Susan Marais, AgriOrbit
