General

Cape Women's Agricultural Association (CWAA)

The CWAA’s 81st annual congress took place in Kimberley from 17 to 19 August 2010. The Society continued its support and again presented the CWAA with a sponsorship for the presentation of their congress. The CWAA, in turn, gives Agri-Expo good exposure on its website, in printed documents and during the congress itself.

The Society again made its trophies available to Circle Tygerberg for presentation at their annual show. The Marketing Manager attended the opening of their 44th Circle Congress held in March at Eensgezind, Klipheuwel. The congress was organised by the Durbanville WAA who also celebrated their 80th birthday at this occasion.

Agricultural Writers SA

During the month of October, Agri-Expo provided administrative assistance for the Agricultural Writers SA’s annual photo competition. Mr Theuns Botha won the coveted title of Agricultural Photographer of the Year.

Conservation

The Society supported two WWF projects with its annual grant to this organisation: the conservation of the Riverine Rabbit and the Karoo Eco-Schools project where learners are made aware of conservation of the environment.

Sandringham

Following on the Agricultural Research Council’s (ARC) decision not to make Bien Donné available to Agri-Expo for the usual SA Cheese Festival dates; it was decided to present the festival at Sandringham, the Society’s own venue.

Due to the fact that no project of such dimensions has ever been presented on the farm, several improvements had to be made.  As a final answer from the ARC were received at a very late stage these improvements had to be finalised within a period of six months – with the December holidays as part of this period.

The first step was to rezone the central part of the farm from Agricultural Zone 1 to a Tourism Zone, and to obtain a temporary deviation rezoning of agricultural land. Approval for these rezoning applications was only granted towards the end of June 2010 and Agri-Expo immediately submitted the next application for permanent rezoning of 5ha agricultural land for exhibitions.

In the meantime the challenge was to create parking space for a minimum of 2 500 cars. Unutilized land of 5ha was levelled, drainage and irrigation installed and grass planted.  A further challenge was the access routes to Sandringham and a new brick road was built from the entrance to create dedicated entrance and exit roads to direct the traffic more efficiently. 

One of the biggest frustrations was the delays with the approval of the new entrance gate.  A limiting regulation caused the end result to be less than perfect which caused a bottle neck. The visual effect of the entrance to Sandringham is, however, as planned. In addition other existing roads at Sandringham were upgraded, ramps were built for easy exhibitor access to the arenas and various sets of steps and level areas created to enhance wheel chair accessibility. Attention was also given to the beautification of the terrain and the planting of trees.

Although the last builders only left the site on the morning of the SA Cheese Festival, the challenges were met and Sandringham was ready to receive more than 31 000 members of the public.

Agri-Expo congratulates staff members who functioned under extreme pressure to ready Sandringham for this prestigious event.

In addition to all the above developments, we are also establishing a new Cross Country Course. Currently all effort goes towards preparing this course, which has been designed according to international standards, for the 2011 Agri-Expo Equestrian Show. The course was designed by Dave Evans who designed the 2008 Olympic Games course.

As with any terrain, certain aspects will need continuous attention or improvement, but the basis has been laid to establish Sandringham as the Gateway to Agriculture in the Western Cape.

Finances

The greatest risk for financial markets and the world economy remains the high and ever increasing levels of government debt of the developed economies. Europe’s debt crisis and the uncertainty regarding the condition of these global economies put stock markets across the globe under pressure.

It is clear that the international economic environment severely impacts on the South African economy.  Fund managers warn that the investment environment will be much harsher for the next 5 to 10 years than the previous decade and that investors should expect significantly smaller dividends than usual.

Against this backdrop it is gratifying to give feedback about the condition of Agri-Expo’s investments.  The Society’s asset managers achieved the goals set for all the investment funds and the local investments easily trumped inflation. However, the continuous strength of the Rand had a negative impact on the conversion value of the foreign investments.  The Rand is unnaturally strong and it is expected to decrease in value.  The portfolio is well diversified between the different asset classes as well as hedge funds.  The focus will remain on affordable and stable long term returns and the avoidance of large capital losses.