While it is early to make a definitive assessment, one can argue that South Africa’s agricultural sector has been relatively more insulated from the Covid-19 pandemic than other sectors of the economy that are on complete lockdown.

Africa can often be a continent of major contradictions, but perhaps especially when it comes to agriculture.

From Angola to Zimbabwe, Southern Africa’s fragile economies are rattled by the coronavirus pandemic. Countries in the region have declared states of emergency and imposed lockdowns, shutting borders, sea ports and reducing daily business activity in order to curb the spread of the virus and protect vulnerable communities.

As the coronavirus continues to spread around the world, governments have intensified efforts to contain the pandemic by limiting the movement of people and temporarily shutting down parts of the economy.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is upon us and agriculture is riding the technology wave. While agritechnology will increasingly drive productivity, quality and eco-efficiency, critics have warned the social impact is being downplayed.

Sensors help agriculture by enabling real-time traceability and diagnosis of crop, livestock and farm machine states.

The Open Deep Learning Toolkit for Robotics project aims to develop a new form of modular, open and non-proprietary ‘all-round’ artificial intelligence toolkit for core robotic functionalities.

The new Arc farm intelligence platform uses predictive modeling based on real-time data.

Intensive farming (also intensive agriculture) is the practice where a lot of labor and capital is employed to maximize agricultural produce or yields.

The COVID-19 crisis is a ‘stress test’ for our global food systems – and they are failing.

As COVID-19 slows in developed countries, the virus’s spread is speeding up in the developing world.

The COVID-19 crisis reminds us of the importance of fighting food insecurity.

Farm profitability can be measured using earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA), net farm income, operating profit margin ratio, rate of return on farm assets, and rate of return on farm equity.

Never write off agriculture’s propensity to come to the rescue when it is most needed. While most of the SA economy shrivels, agriculture is booming – up 27.8% in the first quarter of 2020.

In everyday experience, our little kids will tell us, “Mommy or Daddy please buy me chocolate.”

We are all living through something the severity of which we have never experienced before and are currently in the 64rth day of lockdown.

Big change is coming. In the words of Shrek, “Change is good, Donkey!” It’s also inevitable, which farmers probably know more than anyone else.

The high-frequency data across the major economies and the developing world underscore the view that the world will experience one of the sharpest declines in economic activity in history.

While we’re now all familiar with the concept, UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are unfortunately still perceived by most as a form of entertainment for hobbyists and annoying neighbours.

This has been a relatively quiet week in the South African agricultural data calendar.