And the fresh produce? I feel that a shakeup in the industry is well overdue. Cheap labour does not necessarily lead to better productivity and, face facts, R69/day was just not sustainable. So now agri will be forced to re-think, more mechanisation and less but better trained/qualified personnel that are more productive = improved efficiencies. However, one must balance this with the fact that farming is high risk business due to weather dependecy, variable markets and subsidised imports. It was relatively easy to re-trench staff to reduce costs in poor production years but not so easy to pay for that machine parked in the "waenhuis" when there is little income. Invicta, I agree, is well positioned to capitalise on this shift and could also form an agri-rental company nuch like the old co-op days.
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