Industry leaders outline strategies for strengthening the grain value chain

Rising food safety risks, a raft of logistical and legal reforms that directly affect the grain handling sector – as well as the severe climate disruptions expected due to the so-called super El Niño weather phenomenon – came under the spotlight at the 2026 GOSA Western Cape Workshop. Held at the Aan de Doorns winery near Worcester, the workshop also featured several sponsor presentations focusing on increased automation and other innovations to improve efficiency and safety in the sector.

Developments in the grain industry
Dr Charl van der Merwe, CEO of Agbiz Grain, gave a wide-ranging presentation touching on several important ongoing processes affecting the grain value chain.

He gave an update on the functioning and progress of the Section 7 investigation into the wheat industry, mandated under the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act (Act 47 of 1996), which investigates structural and policy constraints that affect the competitiveness of the South African wheat industry. He shared statistics showing concerning shrinkage in wheat hectares and a concurrent increase in imports of lower-grade wheat from Eastern European countries.

Dr Van Der Merwe also discussed the progress of high-level efforts aimed at moving 30% of the country’s grain transport from road to rail. Following a request for information, stakeholders have until the end of September to provide information on so-called B-lines, the lower-traffic regional lines that connect rural production nodes to the main rail corridors, the so-called A-lines. The aim of the current round of inquiries is to establish which of these lines are still useable, what volumes of freight can be transported on such lines and what minimum cargo thresholds are required to make such regional lines economically viable.

He also discussed progress with the implementation of new safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) audits; problematic clauses in the new Plant Breeders Rights Act (Act 12 of 2018), particularly the low limits of farm-retained seed allowed to be planted in following seasons; and possible timelines for the introduction of white wheat cultivars in South Africa in the coming years.

Tackling food safety risks
Wayne Rosewall, chairman of the technical committee of the National Chamber of Milling, welcomed Dr Van Der Merwe’s update on the SHEQ for silos and other grain storage facilities, as the chamber has seen a concerning increase in instances of grain contamination, which pose severe food safety threats and can lead to wheat being unsuited for human or even animal use.
Rosewall added that the chamber still considers concrete silos the best and safest mode of storage. Steel silos are second-best, provided they are managed well and sealed properly to prevent ingress by birds and rodents. Because bunkers have open sides, they are vulnerable to rodents and birds, which defecate on the grain and add to risks of salmonella and other dangerous pollutants.

He then outlined a number of risks associated with silo bags. “It is an easy and cheap way to store grain when it comes off the field, (and) it has a place, but it must be a temporary mode of storage, a month to three months at most, and then the grain must be moved into a permanent silo,” he said. According to Rosewall, the bags are susceptible to mould, which tends to form on the underside of the bags, and the risk for contamination of stored grain increases exponentially during wet seasons when water may dam up around them. Incidents where maize had to either be destroyed or sold off as pigfeed could be directly linked to the wet seasons of 2024/2025. He also noted questionable fumigation methods, such as holes being cut in the bag to add phosphine, which is ineffective because there is no air circulation in the bags and it leaves the grain prone to water damage and environmental contamination.

An unprecedented ‘super El Niño’
Henrico Delport, consultant with Perdigon, said it was a near certainty that summer grains production areas would be faced with a midsummer drought later this year, given the historically high sea surface temperatures off the South American coast that formed in May, but the phenomenon would not necessarily result in wholesale crop losses.

He explained that while a drop in rainfall over the grain growing summer rainfall areas are practically certain, the effects could be mitigated if it coincides with a negative or neutral Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). This is when sea surface temperatures in the western tropical Indian Ocean off Africa is relatively cool and those in the eastern Indian Ocean off Indonesia relatively warmer. The resulting weather patterns do not move rain-causing cyclones away from the east coast of Southern Africa, which would improve the chances of at least some rain.

“For instance, the 1997/1998 El Niño was the hottest one we experienced up until now. It brought sub-normal rainfall, but the small amounts of rain that did fall, fell at the right times, and yields were passable. This is because the IOD was negative and did not also take the rain clouds away. The IOD will be a determining factor for this season,” he said.

Another positive is that the country’s ground water levels are higher now than at the beginning of previous super El Niños.

Articles, photos and videos by Jeanne van der Merwe