In years to come when we read the agricultural economic history of SA, 2019 will be one of the toughest the sector has experienced in the past decade.

On a macro level we’ve witnessed sustained despondency among farming businesses for some time. The Agbiz/IDC agribusiness confidence index has remained below the neutral 50-point mark for six consecutive quarters, which implies that agribusinesses are downbeat about business conditions in SA. This has been the longest period of despondency in the farming sector since the financial crisis. ..