Agriculture
Analysis and intelligence from The Ledger.
The Million-Rand Black Market in South Africa’s Tiny Desert Plants
Tiny plants, international collectors and an extraordinary black market. Inside the economics of South Africa's disappearing desert succulents.
The South African Tea That Almost Lost Its Own Name
A $10 trademark, a million-dollar legal battle and an indigenous crop that became a global export business.
The $1,000 Sweater Starts in the Karoo
South Africa dominates the global mohair trade, but much of the industry's final value is captured further downstream. We follow the journey from Karoo goat to luxury sweater.
The Crop That Built the KZN Coast
How sugar shaped KwaZulu-Natal?s labour market, population, industrial economy and food system ? and why the future of cane may lie beyond sugar.
The Logistics Tax on South African Farming
Broken railways and congested ports are quietly taxing South African agriculture. What freight reform could mean for farm margins, credit risk and where farming remains viable.
Pap Is Ancient. Maize Isn’t.
How a crop from the Americas fed the mines, transformed South African farming and became part of the country’s economic infrastructure.
When Rainfall Becomes Credit Risk
What four decades of El Niño reveal about South African agriculture, food prices, retailers, farmer cash flow and agricultural credit risk.
Beyond Copper: Can the Lobito Corridor Reshape Southern Africa's Agricultural Economy?
A railway built for critical minerals could become something larger: a production corridor, but only if the first mile works.
From Soil to Scent: The Hidden Agricultural Economy Behind Perfume
Perfume is sold as emotion, but produced through land, labour, chemistry, logistics and market power.