White South Africans take up arms to stop gov from taking their lands

[inactive]

The knowledge to successfully run any kind of agribusiness is highly skilled. They will instantly go under and starve within the first year or so. This is a humanitarian disaster waiting to unfold on ALL sides.

The ownership is being seized and is changing hands. But are the laborers being changed out? I'm not supporting a government takeover of business AT ALL. But I suspect the laborers themselves are not the ones losing the bulk of the jobs here.

If you're referring to the business (management) side of running it, then well I would agree with you.

 

[MacFromOK]

The ownership is being seized and is changing hands. But are the laborers being changed out? I'm not supporting a government takeover of business AT ALL. But I suspect the laborers themselves are not the ones losing the bulk of the jobs here.

If you're referring to the business (management) side of running it, then well I would agree with you.

I'm guessing the laborers don't have an excess of initiative, or they'd already be farming (or something) on their own.

So... the loss of management is a major issue IMO. :/

 

[Dave70968]

The ownership is being seized and is changing hands. But are the laborers being changed out? I'm not supporting a government takeover of business AT ALL. But I suspect the laborers themselves are not the ones losing the bulk of the jobs here.

If you're referring to the business (management) side of running it, then well I would agree with you.

They will be, and sooner than you think. GPS is almost disturbingly accurate these days (think: centimeters, with the right augmentation systems). Throw in instantaneous soil analysis at point of collection, computer-controlled fertilizer spreaders, robotic pickers (already in use for more crops than you think), etc. and the human element is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

 

[ignerntbend]

When they finally come up with a robot that eats the food, it'll all be over.

 

[dennishoddy]

The ownership is being seized and is changing hands. But are the laborers being changed out? I'm not supporting a government takeover of business AT ALL. But I suspect the laborers themselves are not the ones losing the bulk of the jobs here.

If you're referring to the business (management) side of running it, then well I would agree with you.

Here is a non-political source that adds some information about what is happening.

Farmers everywhere face risk. But what if you had to farm not knowing if the land you owned would be taken away from you tomorrow?

JUL 31, 2018
That's what's happening to some South African farmers today. The South African government has a policy called Land Reform, and the goal is to get 30% of farmland into black African ownership. In 1994, at the end of apartheid, almost 90% of the land in South Africa was owned by white South Africans, who make up less than 10% of the population. The government led by the African National Congress (ANC) vowed to redistribute land, but implementing land reform policies has been a struggle.

“We are still uncertain about what will happen in the future," says Thys Roux, a grain and sheep farmer in Western Cape Province, South Africa.
The law is, in effect, an effort to right the wrongs that took place during apartheid and to some degree, years earlier during colonialism. European explorers came to South Africa 300 years ago, often marginalizing local tribes. In 1948 the Euro-centric National Party came to power and enforced a series of harsh laws that stripped black South Africans of most of their basic human rights. This outraged black African societies; eventually the government was forced to hold democratic elections which led to the freeing and election of Nelson Mandela in 1994.

During our recent Farm Futures tour to South Africa we learned the government wants to pass new rules to extend the deadline for restitution claims through 2018 and allow a broader range of claims to be lodged.

If a native African can supply proof his or her ancestors were buried on the land or that the family held it in control before 1910 – the year apartheid was established - they can sue the government to gain ownership. If the claimant wins, the landowner must sell that land to the government, and the land is given to the claimant.

Even if the claim is dubious, the white farm owner will find it difficult to get capital or loans as long as land ownership is in doubt, says Gerrit Roos, a 48-year-old farmer who hopes to pass his 7,500-acre farm on to his two sons someday. "The government is chasing the white farmers away," he says.

In addition, South African law holds that if a black farm worker occupies one of the farm owner's tenant houses for 10 years, they own the house. That rule does not apply if the worker is white.

Law backfires

Like so many government policies, South Africa's land reform law can and often does, backfire. Newly-minted black owners usually have neither the skills or desire to become farmers.

"The government gives land to blacks and gets a white farmer to teach them to farm, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't," Roos says. "The new owner is often unprepared for the capital and equipment needed to farm the land; within a year or two the land ends up back in government hands and the original farmer buys it at a discount."

Land reform means "we are still uncertain about what will happen in the future," says Thys Roux, a grain and sheep farmer in Western Cape Province. "One thing we try to tell the government is, food production must be sustainable. If there's no food then what happened in Zimbabwe will happen here. There were land claims mostly in the north and people were removed from their land and taken over by black farmers, not with great results.

"Most of the farms that have been given back to black farmers, the results have not been great," Roux says. "It would be like making me a doctor – you put me in surgery and I'd kill the patients. That's what's happening when land is given back to people who win claims in court."

Now, just imagine if the same scenario played out here in North America, where Europeans displaced native Americans years ago. Food for thought? You betcha!

https://www.farmfutures.com/story-land-reform-south-africas-ticking-time-bomb-18-109953

 

[inactive]

I'm guessing the laborers don't have an excess of initiative, or they'd already be farming (or something) on their own.

So... the loss of management is a major issue IMO. :/

I’m not arguing they have the means or skills or knowledge to run an agribusiness (I think the business will likely fail myself) but saying indigenous South African blacks don’t own land for commercial farming in scramble-colonized then apartheid South Africa because Initiative is what was lacking is somewhat disingenuous to the events that have occurred there the past 100+ years.

 

[MacFromOK]

I’m not arguing they have the means or skills or knowledge to run an agribusiness (I think the business will likely fail myself) but saying indigenous South African blacks don’t own land for commercial farming in scramble-colonized then apartheid South Africa because Initiative is what was lacking is somewhat disingenuous to the events that have occurred there the past 100+ years.

Yeah... given there are so many modern <your choice of ethnic words here> civilizations that are doing so well.

 

[Louro]

social justice, is not what the democrats want?

 

[inactive]

This is the best thread since 0311's kid joined the Navy, and then he called her a mud-shark for dating a black sailor she met there. It's been a while since we had one of these.

 

[inactive]

They will be, and sooner than you think. GPS is almost disturbingly accurate these days (think: centimeters, with the right augmentation systems). Throw in instantaneous soil analysis at point of collection, computer-controlled fertilizer spreaders, robotic pickers (already in use for more crops than you think), etc. and the human element is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

I am not sure how evolved ag is in that part of Africa (I know East Africa, for example, is not near that point yet). But 'tis only a matter of time.