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The amazing resilience of the local and international agriculture during the past few tumultuous years has been astounding and largely due to technological advancements made in the field, said Prof Ferdi Meyer, director of the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), during a Nation in Conversation session at NAMPO on Wednesday, 14 May 2025.
“We’ve seen several price swings of between as much as 40 to 100%, and yet we (the agricultural sector) have kept the country food secure. Our farmers adjusted very quickly to challenges posed by COVID, El Niño, and La Niña,” Prof Meyer said.
Johann Kotzé, CEO of Agri SA, said that the decision to classify the agricultural sector as an essential service during COVID played a major part in boosting producers and other role-players in the industry’s moral. “It gave farmers a huge sense of belonging.”
Demand price pull effect needed
Prof Meyer said in recent years South African grain production had increased significantly, with a 400 000ha increase in summer plantings and winter crops increasing by 100 000ha.
What is interesting, is that the recent increase was due to price increases, but this did not go hand in hand with rising demand, Prof Meyer said, adding that it was critical that increased demand was needed to create a demand price pull effect. “This expansion has led to a place where grain prices are now close to export parity, which means we are highly competitive globally. However, the demand curve hasn’t shifted.”
If this situation does not change, it means that the country could lose the additional hectares that were brought into production. “That is not what we want. In fact, we would like to bring even more hectares into production.”
Driving profit and sustainability
Prof Danie Brink, dean of the faculty of AgriSciences at the University of Stellenbosch, said he was more confident than ever that the clustering of agricultural technology would lead to greater sustainability and profitability.
While one could argue that local technological advancements were relatively limited, it was critical to keep in mind that a mere 2% of global agricultural research and development took place on the African continent. And the local agricultural community could benefit from these global advancements.
However, this comes at a cost. Therefore, Prof Brink believes that affordability is the biggest barrier standing in the way of farmers accessing this technology. Additionally, agricultural workers do not necessarily have the necessary skills to utilise the technology efficiently. “We need to continuously retrain the sector and widen the skill set of our workers.”
Rethinking government focus
Dr Tobias Doyer, CEO of Grain SA, said while it was clear that Artificial Intelligence (AI) was going to fundamentally change the sector, it was also important to re-evaluate the role that government plays in regulating the environment.
“If we only refocus the efforts that is currently placed to regulate the sector towards the creation of a new cultivar, it would have a tremendous impact. Currently it’s more expensive to get a new cultivar registered (in South Africa) than it is to develop that cultivar.” – Susan Marais, Plaas Media
